Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 18 September 2025
Thursday in the Twenty-Fourth Week of Ordinary Time, Year I
1 Timothy 4:12-16 <'[[[[>< + ><]]]]'> Luke 7:36-50
Your words today
surprised me again,
Lord Jesus:
so many times I find
myself like Simon the Pharisee,
always welcoming you
into my home,
into my life,
into my meal
and many times too
like him,
I am shocked,
becoming judgmental
at times like the others
when a sinner comes
like that sinful woman
who gatecrashed
to get near you,
Lord.
When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, that she is a sinner.” Jesus said to him in reply, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” “Tell me, teacher,” he said. “Two people were in debt to a certain creditor; one owed five hudnred days’ wages and the other owed fifty. Since they were unable to repay the debt, he forgave it for both. Which of them will love him more?” Simon said in reply, “The one I suppose, whose larger debt was forgive.” He said to him, “You have judged rightly” (Luke 7:39-43).
Forgive me,
Jesus,
when I fail to see
my own sinfulness,
my past where I came from
before being with you
as a disciple:
I, too, am a sinner
like that woman who
broke all protocols
and conventions
just to get close to you,
to touch you
and be restored by you
in your mercy and forgiveness;
let me heed Paul's call to Timothy
to be "absorbed"
in your love
because
discipleship is more
than knowing you
and following you
but most of all,
loving you most
especially among
the unloveable
for we were once
like them.
Like that sinful woman,
let me go in peace today
by rejoicing
in your infinite mercy
for us all,
not just me.
Amen.
Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Our Lady of Fatima University
Valenzuela City
(lordmychef@gmail.com)
lordmychef.com 