The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday, Feast of St. Andrew, Apostle, 30 November 2023
Romans 10:9-18 <*(((>< + ><)))*> + <*(((>< + ><)))*> Matthew 4:18-22
Photo by author, Lake of Galilee, Israel, May 2019.
I have always wondered, Lord Jesus,
what was there in your lodging
to which Andrew "came and saw"
that he followed you right away?
What was there, or not there,
in the vast Lake of Galilee that
Andrew along with his brother Peter
that "Immediately they left their boat
and their father and followed you",
Jesus (Matthew 4:22)?
It seems to me, dear Jesus,
it was not the thing outside
that Andrew saw and did not see
that he promptly followed you;
his promptness in following you
was a result of something he both
found inside and did not find
within himself - that is YOU!
Teach me to be prompt in responding
to your call, dear Jesus, by admitting
the emptiness within me only YOU can
fill and make complete;
many times, I keep on looking for something
and somebody else in life when it is YOU
whom I should first search within me;
many times, I keep on coming and seeing
somewhere else when it is always YOU, Jesus,
who come first to me to see
and experience in the most ordinary,
even routinary circumstances of
daily life.
Dear Jesus,
teach me to be like St. Andrew
to keep that desire within to never
be contented, to constantly seek and
promptly follow you so
that I may proclaim you
more boldly.
Amen.