The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Friday, Week XIX, Year I in Ordinary Time, 13 August 2021 Joshua 24:1-13 ><]]]]*> + ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]*> Matthew 19:3-12
I know, dear God our Father, you have no need of our words nor works in exchange for your abounding love and grace given us in Christ Jesus; and there lies your goodness and holiness when all you ask of us is our fidelity to your covenant, that we remain true to you by dealing with love and justice to one another which is all for our own good too.
“I gave you a land that you had not tilled and cities which you had not built, to dwell in; you have eaten of vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.”
Joshua 24:13
You have given us everything, O God: the earth and everything on it that we have wasted and destroyed; worst of all, you have given us family and friends, every person and people to love and cherish, respect and be kind with but whom we have always hurt with our words and actions when we see only our very selves, failing to see others as brothers and sisters in you as Father from the the very beginning.
“Have you not read that from the beginning the Creator made them male and female, and said, For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, man must not separate.”
Matthew 19:4-6
Forgive us, merciful Father for the "hardness of our hearts" (Mt.19:8), in our building walls among us instead of bridges to bring us close together as your children reconciled in Jesus Christ; help us to find the common grounds that make us all the same, not different; make us find and accept our vocation in life so we may fulfill your calling by serving you through one another with love and respect, kindness and mercy especially in this time of the pandemic. Amen.
