The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday, Memorial of St. John Chrysostom, Bishop & Doctor of Church, 13 September 2024
1 Corinthians 9:16-19, 22-27 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Luke 6:39-42
Lord Jesus Christ,
help me be like St. Paul,
a man truly free:
free from slavery of sin,
free from selfishness,
free from what others may say
so that I may be truly
free to love,
free to serve,
free to be my true self.
Although I am free in regard to all, I have made myself a slave to all so as to win over as many as possible. I have become all things to all (omnia omnibus), to save at least some. All this I do for the sake of the Gospel, so that I too may have a share in it (1 Corinthians 9:19, 22-23).
In a world when most people
insist on their rights,
you teach us Lord through St. Paul
that inasmuch as the Church is the
your Body, then being a slave to others
is actually the path to true freedom,
making no room for anyone to insist
on his or her rights superseding
the common good;
most of all, in becoming
all things to all men like St. Paul,
then we acknowledge that
the strong and powerful
must take into consideration
the needs of the weak and powerless;
forgive us, Jesus,
for blindly leading others
to doom and more darkness;
forgive us, Jesus,
for always seeing defects of others
without recognizing our own;
cleanse us with your words
like St. John Chrysostom
who wrote us in one of his letters
on the way to his exile,
"Distance separates us,
but love unites us,
and death itself cannot divide us.
For though my body die,
my soul will live and
be mindful of my people."
Amen.
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