Our strained relationships

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday, Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time, Year II, 12 August 2026
Ezekiel 9:1-7; 10:18-19, 22     <*((((><  +  ><))))*>     Matthew 18:15-20

"If your brother 
sins against you...."

I feel you speaking to me
directly today,
Lord Jesus;
you know so well how
often my brothers
and sisters sin against me;
let's not included those times
I am the one who sinned against 
them but why is it,
Lord,
it is different when a brother
or a sister sins against me?

There is the deep hurt
because he is a brother
or a sister - there is 
a relationship,
a bond,
a trust
that is broken;
sometimes unintentionally
that they seemed to have not
minded at all,
or overlooked that makes it
more painful actually;
but, how shall I approach
him or her?

So often it becomes 
the source of more problems
because,
simply,
they would claim they have
no intentions of hurting us
or never thought what they
did to us or say to us was
wrong;
and when we approach them,
they do not seems to care at all. 

With so much platforms
in expressing our thoughts and
feelings,
the more 
we have become detached
from each other,
the more we are fragmented,
the more our relationships
are strained.

Give us the courage
and wisdom,
and tact as well
to speak with a brother
or sister who sins against us;
more than restoring our ties,
may you dwell anew
dear Jesus amid us
so that more than seeing each
other, may we see you
and share you
to create a sacred ground 
between us because,
"For where two or three
are gathered together 
in my name,
there am I 
in the midst of them"
(Matthew 18:20).
Amen.