tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-205427002011-10-19T18:18:15.691+02:00Reflections, recollections, digressions, random thoughts, insights, etc. on how the bible can shed light on the culture, way of life, practices, customs, habits, virtues, vices, anxieties and hopes of South East Asians, especially Filipinos. [best viewed with Mozilla Firefox browser]Randolf C. Flores, SVDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08771037051164590228noreply@blogger.comBlogger171100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20542700.post-12135944815666659522007-03-21T07:17:00.000+01:002007-03-21T07:18:58.147+01:00

Click on this or on the title above.

Randolf C. Flores, SVDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08771037051164590228noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20542700.post-1151473700467924742006-06-28T07:37:00.000+02:002006-10-30T04:46:34.386+01:00

To understand who we are, our behavior, our customs and practices, our ways of thinking, our tendencies, our values and vices -- in other words, our identity, it is important to understand our origins. Where did we, Filipinos, come from? Who were our ancestors? What did our ancestors look like? Their language? Their beliefs?As we say in Tagalog, "Ang hindi marunong lumingon sa pinanggalingan,

Randolf C. Flores, SVDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08771037051164590228noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20542700.post-1150792231265884552006-06-20T10:26:00.000+02:002006-10-30T04:46:34.251+01:00

"Many tax collectors and sinners came"Read: Matthew 9:9-13Since the Philippine government implemented a lifestyle check on its employees, eleven officials from the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) face charges of graft and corruption at the Ombudsman. The current BIR commissioner is also battling charges of failing to collect the target P675 billion collection for this year. This department has

Randolf C. Flores, SVDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08771037051164590228noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20542700.post-1150104504740040652006-06-12T11:20:00.000+02:002006-10-30T04:46:33.959+01:00

Here's a first hand report on what's going on in the SVD 16th General Chapter, grabbed from Munting Mensahero (Little Messenger), an email news written by Jerome Marquez (delegate of Philippine Central Province).Note: News in Tagalog.Click: Abbreviated mission assignment and more SVD Chapter news

Randolf C. Flores, SVDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08771037051164590228noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20542700.post-1149996930801834632006-06-11T01:11:00.000+02:002006-10-30T04:46:33.904+01:00

The two gentlemen are actively involved in the protection of the environment and biodiversity in the Diocese of Santarem of the Amazon Region in Brazil. Edilberto Sena, founder and present director of Radio Rural, uses the air to educate the locals on the vital importance of ecological balance. Jose Boeing, a missionary of the Society of the Divine Word is the zonal coordinator for its office

Randolf C. Flores, SVDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08771037051164590228noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20542700.post-1149866926006880552006-06-07T17:04:00.000+02:002006-10-30T04:46:33.731+01:00

This blog on the opening of the 16th SVD General Chapter comes a little late. But as they say in Tagalog, "Huli man daw at magaling, naihahabol pa rin!" (rough translation, "Better late than never" or "Better late than later" as we say in the Philippines). The past chapters were always held in Nemi, ca. 30 kms south east of the city of Rome. This time, due to a much bigger number

Randolf C. Flores, SVDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08771037051164590228noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20542700.post-1149755688832109422006-06-05T10:28:00.000+02:002006-11-14T02:03:40.172+01:00

[advertisement] The album creates a genre that could forshadow cosmic unity between the sacred and the profane, faith and reason, heart and mind. Its melody sways from a typical soulful pinoy-hum inflected by a forlorn voice to a more emphatic, confidence-filled hymn, marked by heightened voices and polyphony of instruments. A theme song called paradoxically, "One heart, many faces" strides along

Randolf C. Flores, SVDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08771037051164590228noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20542700.post-1137801365305774012006-06-05T00:38:00.000+02:002006-10-30T04:46:30.601+01:00

(first posting: May 2005; revised and updated June 2006)"Do you understand what are you reading" (Acts 8:30)? This question of Philip to the Ethiopian officer is as relevant as in the first century A.D. The quest for the meaning of the biblical text is less a data base information gathering than a believer's "faith seeking understanding" (St. Anselm of Canterbury, 11th cent. A.D.) Understanding

Randolf C. Flores, SVDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08771037051164590228noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20542700.post-1144792160449953622006-06-04T23:42:00.002+02:002010-04-14T10:32:25.067+02:00

I wrote an article in reaction to the so-called Gospel of Judas. Philippine Daily Inquirer (Sunday 09 April 2006) published it front page, please click here: Here's an unedited version of that. The controversial "Gospel of Judas" is soon to be made available to the public. The National Geographic Society has announced its intention to publish later this month an English translation of a 31-

Randolf C. Flores, SVDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08771037051164590228noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20542700.post-1144883242311654552006-06-03T00:42:00.001+02:002008-02-15T14:01:25.875+01:00

The "Ritual of Judas" in the Philippines' Panay Island is interesting. Professor Rosario C. Lucero of the University of the Philippines, in his article in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, describes the Holy Week ritual in this way: [T]he giant effigy of Judas -- with a giant wooden phallus sticking out through a slit in his robe -- is paraded around the barrio with much noise and

Randolf C. Flores, SVDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08771037051164590228noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20542700.post-1148644270048961202006-05-26T13:11:00.000+02:002006-10-30T04:46:31.681+01:00

Read first Matthew 25:14-30.A Roman denarius from the mid-first century B.C.E found under a doorway at the Qumran excavation site in 1955We love to tell stories. We like to listen to stories. Stories are imitations of our experiences in life. They present a better world which listeners and readers can dream of. At times, they shape our decisions in life. We come up to a crucial decision after

Randolf C. Flores, SVDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08771037051164590228noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20542700.post-1147764454135577292006-05-16T09:05:00.000+02:002006-10-30T04:46:31.625+01:00

The Butanding (Whale Shark), the "Leviathan" of Donsol, Sorsogon, Philippines, getting extinct due to illegal fishing. Read first John 21:20-25 The gospel reading contains the very last words of the last of the four gospels, gospel, the Gospel of John. The Risen Lord appears to two acknowledged leaders of the early Church, Peter and the Beloved Disciple. This unnamed disciple

Randolf C. Flores, SVDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08771037051164590228noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20542700.post-1147672488872504702006-05-15T07:50:00.000+02:002006-10-30T04:46:31.510+01:00

Lilith Exorcised on a Persian Incantation Bowl(Read first Mark 3:22-30) Some people have been accused as "drug lords", or "jueteng lords". A former jueteng lord was even asked by the government to lead the campaign against jueteng because he was supposed to know the "ins and outs" (the operations) of this illegal gambling game. In time of Jesus, the most notorious leader

Randolf C. Flores, SVDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08771037051164590228noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20542700.post-1144785979070568082006-05-14T21:04:00.001+02:002010-09-05T00:57:53.294+02:00

In the news recently, the retired supreme court justice Hilario Davide submitted to the President his proposals for the much needed electoral reforms. Among them is the ban on political dynasties and nepotism, a recommendation he had submitted to thge 1971 Constitutional Convention and the 1986 Consitutional Commission. Here's my interpretation of Luke 14:25-33, Jesus' possible teaching against

Randolf C. Flores, SVDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08771037051164590228noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20542700.post-1145636867951186622006-04-21T18:15:00.000+02:002006-10-30T04:46:31.400+01:00

Here's another commentary on the so-called Gospel of Judas by a respected New Testament scholar, Professor Larry Hurtado of the University of Edinburgh School of Divinity.Eventually, Mario Jean Roberty, a Swiss lawyer who is head of the Maecenas Foundation, which is also Swiss, bought the codex for a reported $1.5 million plus half the proceeds from the future marketing of its contents. In

Randolf C. Flores, SVDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08771037051164590228noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20542700.post-1145191521639218842006-04-16T14:43:00.000+02:002006-10-30T04:46:31.345+01:00

Reimund Bieringer, professor of New Testament Exegesis, Faculty of Theology, Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium wrestles with the question: Was Judas a traitor or pawn in God's plan? His answers include implications for the theology of the cross. More

Randolf C. Flores, SVDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08771037051164590228noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20542700.post-1145081362181678942006-04-15T08:09:00.000+02:002006-10-30T04:46:31.291+01:00

Ben Witherington is also blogging the so-called "Gospel" of Judas. He is a Professor of New Testament Interpretation at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, KentuckyI was on the phone yesterday with my close friend Dr. A.J. Levine who teaches at Vanderbilt Div. School. She was called in late in the game to give a bit more balance to the group of scholars unveiling the Gospel of

Randolf C. Flores, SVDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08771037051164590228noreply@blogger.com0