Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday, Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time, Year I, 30 July 2025
Exodus 34:29-35 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Matthew 13:44-46
God our Father,
it has been quite a long time
since these rains started
and how I miss seeing the sun
rising in the morning
like your face appearing
before me; how I love arising
early in the morning
to experience the sunrise
that I imagine as closest to
the experience of Moses conversing
with you, Lord,
face to face like two friends;
in the sunrise
I find and experience
the paradox of you,
of your presence in absence,
when you seem "veiled"
to me and everyone.
When he finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face. Whenever Moses Moses entered the presence of the Lord to converse with him, he removed the veil until he came out again. On coming out, he would tell the children of Israel all that had been commanded. Then the children of Israel would see that the skin of Moses’ face was radiant; so he would again put the veil over his face until he went in to converse with the Lord (Exodus 34:33-35).
"Nobody sees your face,
O Lord, and lives again"
because to see your face
is our final fulfillment in life;
to see your face like Moses
and still live is to live
"veiled" in your mystery
that eyes cannot see
but the heart and soul can feel
and recognize; you come to us,
Lord, "veiled" in many instances
like the sunrise when I cannot
see your face fully
and directly like the sun
but the more I look at you,
the more I experience you in me,
the more I become aware of my own face
created in your image and likeness;
show me your face, God,
not as an image but as a reality
inside me so that like Moses,
your kindness and love
may shine in me always,
living authentically,
living fully in your loving presence,
veiled in the mystery
and beauty of your kingdom
buried like a treasure in the field
or like a pearl of great price
I would never trade for anything
except you in Jesus.
Amen.
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