The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday in the First Week of Ordinary Time, 12 January 2024
1 Samuel 8:4-7, 10-22 <'[[[[>< + ><]]]]'> Mark 2:1-12
Praise and glory to you,
God our Father,
on this twelfth day of 2024
as you continue to teach us
some valuable lessons to keep
in order to live in communion with
you and experience your blessings
in Jesus Christ daily
for the next 366 days.
In the first reading,
we find the persistence
of your people in having a king
over them just like other nations
around Israel which, surprisingly,
you did not mind at all!
How funny it is that many times,
we are insistent on things
really not that important,
wasting precious time and
energy only to be sorry later.
Samuel was displeased when they asked for a king to judge them. He prayed to the Lord, however, who said in answer: ”Grant the people’s every request. It is not you they reject, they are rejecting me as their king.”
1 Samuel 8:6-7
Send us prophets,
Father, another Samuel who
would help us discern
what we are asking from you,
what we desire in life,
what we really want;
may we not be insistent
nor persistent when our
prayers and wishes
or objectives contradict
your divine plans and set us
apart from you and others
who truly care for us.
Teach us instead,
to be more persistent,
even insistent by persevering
to get closer to Jesus Christ
your Son like those four men
who opened up the roof
and let down before Jesus
the paralytic they were carrying;
how funny when we make
many excuses
to be not insistent
and persistent
in getting closer to Jesus
like going to Sunday Mass,
hearing Confessions,
or simply praying inside
the church or an adoration chapel;
many times,
we never run out of alibis
for not persisting in being kind
or being good or
at least courteous to others;
more often,
we simply lack the energy
to persevere in cultivating
discipline and other virtues
because we think more of
what others are doing
and saying,
of what is in,
what is in vogue,
what is viral and trending.
This 2024,
give us the grace
of persistence,
especially of perseverance
in following Jesus,
in being like Jesus,
in sharing Jesus.
Amen.
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