Author: lordmychef

That “Eureka!” moment of life – and death

The Lord Is My Chef Recipe for the Soul

Homily at the Funeral of Archimedes Lazaro (ICS ’97), 18 February 2020

Wisdom of Solomon 3:1-9 ><)))*> 0 <*(((>< Luke 7:11-17

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Soon afterward Jesus journeyed to a city called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd accompanied him. As he drew near to the gate of the city, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. A large crowd from the city was with her. When the Lord saw her, he was moved with pity for her and said to her, “Do not weep.” He stepped forward and touched the coffin; at this the bearers halted, and he said, “Young man, I tell you, arise!” The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, exclaiming, “A great prophet has arisen in our midst,” and “God has visited his people.”

Luke 7:11-16

Today, we are like at the city of Nain. Traffic is so heavy outside as many of us – family and friends, former classmates, colleagues at work from all over and neighbors – gather to pray and pay our last respects for Archie.

Celebrating a funeral Mass for a young person is always difficult for me. Like Jesus, I feel so sad for their parents. Normally, it is the children who bury their parents. It must be so painful for parents burying a son or a daughter. That is why in our gospel, Jesus was “moved with pity” with the widow of Nain.

But today, amid the pains and sorrows with the sudden death of Archie last week at a very young age, we actually celebrate life in Jesus Christ.

Photo by author of the hills of Galilee from the Walls of Jerusalem, May 2017.

Jesus comes to visit us always

Like in that scene at Nain, we remember and celebrate the life of Archie who had come to visit us even for a short time.

I love that part of the gospel where the people at Nain exclaimed at how “God has visited his people” when Jesus raised the dead young man.

Jesus continues to visit us everyday through one another like Archie.

Despite his many sins and imperfections, Archie made us experience Jesus Christ’s love and friendship, warmth and kindness, especially to his two sons, family, and friends.

Surely, Jesus must have visited Archie, too, during those dark moments of his life.

And the good news is, Archie visited Jesus so often especially these last two years when he started to pick up the pieces of his life.

Last time I saw Archie was last November when he came to celebrate Mass in our Parish. And I have heard how he had sought spiritual guidance from Fr. Carl, driving that far to Paco every month as he renewed his relationship with Christ, trying to follow anew the Lord he had served since elementary as a sacristan and later as a seminarian in our high school seminary.

It is Jesus who first finds us always

Photo by author at Mt. St. Paul Spirituality Center, Baguio, 04 February 2020.

We all know Archie’s tocayo is one of ancient Greece’s great scientist and inventor, Archimedes.

It is said that he discovered the principle of buoyancy – the “Archimedes’ principle” – while taking a bath.

When Archimedes sat onto his bathtub, he observed that “when a body is submerged in a fluid, it experiences an apparent loss in weight that is equal to the weight of fluid displaced by the immersed body.”

Archimedes was so ecstatic with his accidental discovery that he jumped naked from his bathtub out to the streets, shouting “eureka!” or “I have found” the solution to a problem he was trying to solve at that time.

Archimedes had not only enriched the field of mathematics and sciences with his discoveries but also the English language with the word “eureka” or “eureka moment”: when somebody discovers something very significant in business and economics, the sciences especially medicine, and practically in every field and subject.

Most especially in life.

Photo by author, Mt. St. Paul Spirituality Center, Baguio, 04 February 2020.

Archie had the same eureka moment in life: he had found Jesus Christ again that he went back to Mass and Confessions.

He had found meaning in life again after losing hope and directions.

Most of all, Archie had found love again.

Like his namesake of ancient Greece, Archie is now exclaiming “eureka” ecstatically into heaven – naked – with nothing but the love and mercy of Jesus Christ who first found him and brought him back to life a few years ago.

Today as we bring the remains of Archie into his final resting place, we thank God who never stops looking for us, finding us so that we can find him again and finally rest in him.

Today it is Jesus who is most ecstatic of all because he is the first to have found Archie and that is why, he had called him back to him, never to get lost again.

But the souls of the just are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them. They seemed, in the view of the foolish, to be dead; and their passing away was thought an affliction and their going forth from us, utter destruction. But they are in peace. In the time of their visitation they shall shine.

Wisdom of Solomon 3:1-3, 7

Amen.

Seeing, hearing, speaking in Christ

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul

Wednesday, Week VI, Year II, 19 February 2020

James 1:19-27 <*(((>< 0 ><)))*> Mark 8:22-26

Photo by Noelle Otto on Pexels.com

Your words today, O Lord, are disturbing, dealing with our senses, with our face, reminding us to attune everything we see, hear, and say – our very selves – to you as your reflection of the Father’s mercy.

Know this, my dear brothers and sisters: everyone should be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger. Therefore, put away all filth and evil excess and humbly welcome the word that has been planted in you and is able to save your souls. Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deluding yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and is not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his own face in a mirror. He sees himself, then goes off and promptly forgets what he looks like.

James 1:19,21-24

What really matters is what is inside of us, of what comes out from us, our thoughts and actions that reveal our faith in you.

So many times, Lord Jesus, we fail to walk our talk.

Indeed, what we see can be deceiving.

We need to once in a while separate from the crowd, from our daily routine to be with you to adjust our sights.

There are times we see the same things and that is why we live the same way too.

But whenever we spend time just with you alone, Jesus, then we see the realities and most of all, we see far and beyond what is before us.

O sweet Jesus, continue to disturb us, to cleanse our senses – our eyes, our ears, our lips – so that we may mirror your love and mercy in our face, in our lives today especially for those going through many difficulties, those who have lost faith and hope in you and the church. Amen.

Hayyyy… buntung-hininga!

Lawiswis ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. LaLog II, 18 Pebrero 2020

Larawan kuha ng may-akda sa Mt. St. Paul, Trinidad, Benguet, 05 Pebrero 2020.
Buhat nung isang gabi
hindi ako mapakali
nang si Hesus ay hindi makapagtimpi
napabuntung-hininga ng malalim
nang makipagtalo sa kanya
mga Pariseo humihingi ng tanda 
na siya nga ang Kristo.
Hindi ba turo ng matatanda
hanggang ngayon siyang laging paalala
masama magbuntung-hininga
na tila baga wala ka nang pag-asa?
Gayun pa man maski ito ay ating alam
madalas hindi natin mapigilan
kapag nahihirapan at nabibigatan.
Katulad natin marahil
si Hesus napupuno na rin:
nagbubuntung-hininga,
humuhugot ng kabutihan
sa kanyang kaibuturan 
upang malampasan
mga kasamaan ng kalaban.
Iyan ang kabutihan
magandang kahulugan
nitong pagbubuntung-hininga
na pilit tinatanggihan, di naman maiwasan
dahil ating nang nakagawian
pumaloob sa kaibuturan 
kaysa makipag-awayan
Hindi kaduwagan
bagkus katapangan kung minsan
dahil iyong sinasaalang-alang 
katiwasayan ng ating mga ugnayan 
kaya pilit sinisisid, sinasaid kabutihan
doon sa kalaliman ng kalooban
kung saan nanahan Panginoon ng Kapayapaan.
Larawan kuha ng may-akda, Poblacion ng Los Baños, Laguna, 13 Pebrero 2020.

I believe!

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul

Tuesday, Week VI, Year II, 18 February 2020

James 1:12-18 <*(((>< 0 ><)))*> Mark 8:14-21

Photo by author, Mt. St. Paul, La Trinidad, Benguet, 03 February 2020.

“I believe, Lord!”

I believe, Lord, that is why I understand.

So many times I cannot understand you, Lord, especially your words and your ways because my mind and my heart are always filled with so many other things and even persons that I cannot find a space for you.

Believing in you, O Lord, is the starting point of everything that enables us to understand things and persons. Belief in you, O God who is all-powerful and all-knowing, is on whom everything begins, the starting point of everything. It is when I believe that I understand, Lord.

Like the apostles traveling with you on the boat, I always “presume” what you mean when you talk to me, especially that “leaven of the Pharisees and of Herod”. You are our leaven, our faith.

I am sorry, Lord, when my heart is so hardened that I cannot understand or comprehend your teachings that invite me first to believe so I can understand.

Let me always have that firm faith in you, Lord, to always believe in you so that I may not be deceived that even temptations come from you.

“Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers and sisters: all good giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no alteration or shadow caused by change.

James 1:16-17

Give me the grace to always look deep inside my heart, to look around and be surprised by nature proclaiming your loving presence among us.

To wonder and to believe always lead us to you, to believing in you even in the midst of trials and sufferings that never come from you. Amen.

Divine sighs, human signs

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul

Monday, Week VI, Year II, 17 February 2020

James 1:1-11 ><)))*> 0 <*(((>< Mark 8:11-13

Photo by author, Laguna Lake, Los Baños, Laguna, 13 February 2020.

How often does it still happen today, Lord Jesus Christ, that like in our gospel today you would “sigh from the depth of your heart” after we, your people, would ask you for more signs from heaven?

Have mercy on us, Lord, for our lack of faith in you after all these years.

Forgive us for being “unstable in all our ways” with you, always “a man of two minds” as St. James would describe us (James 1:8) in seeking wisdom and things from you.

Forgive us for those moments we doubt your presence and power especially when we fail to win your favor, to get your blessings for our particular prayers and supplications.

The fault is really on us, Lord.

If sighing is your way of keeping your patience with our being so stubborn, teach us to reach out to you in the depths of our hearts, to remember those countless occasions you have saved us.

That instead of asking for signs from you, we may just sigh deep inside us to experience you again. Amen.

“You’re In My Heart” by Rod Stewart (1977)

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Music, 16 February 2020

From Google.

I have always been a big fan of Rod Stewart since my elementary days when his 1977 hit “You’re In My Heart” was released. Since then I have followed his career, saving on my baon to buy some of his records and cassette tapes that some of my relatives doubted if I would ever become a priest with my kind of music!

But, when I entered the high school seminary in 1979 and heard our rector and spiritual director playing Rod Stewart’s music, that’s when I realized I could still become a priest with my kind of music.

And so, I finally became a priest in 1998 after leaving the seminary in 1982 – not because of rock music – that 21 years after, here still rockin’, now blogging to relate secular music with our Sunday gospel.

Pilgrims entering the Church of the Beatitudes with a painting of the Jesus giving his Sermon on the Mount. Photo by author, May 2019, the Holy Land.

This Sunday, Jesus continues his Sermon on the Mount, inviting us to look deeper into our hearts to see how much love and respect we have there for God and for others.

He cites four grave sins – murder, adultery, divorce, and lies – that all begin in our hearts.

Like what Jesus would later tell us, it is not what enters us that defile us but what comes from our hearts.

All troubles and sins outside like the wars and famines, the corruption and injustices that happen begin right inside our hearts.

And that is why we have chosen Rod Stewart’s classic “You’re In My Heart” that speaks of the great love – perhaps a crush or first love to a high school classmate.

Rod Stewart wrote this song and the lyrics are not only poetic but also playfully true that we can all identify with it, especially us men who have gone through the same feelings and experiences when we think of girls and sports at the same time while always lagging in our academics (LOL).

It is something like what our teachers used to tell us in elementary and high school: “boys will always be boys but girls turn into ladies and then into women”.

Have a heart, bask in the feeling of loving, and mature in our love in Christ!

You’re in my heart, you’re in my soul
You’ll be my breath should I grow old
You are my lover, you’re my best friend
You’re in my soul
My love for you is immeasurable
My respect for you immense
You’re ageless, timeless, lace and fineness
You’re beauty and elegance
You’re a rhapsody, a comedy
You’re a symphony and a play
You’re every love song ever written
But honey, what do you see in me?
You’re in my heart, you’re in my soul
You’ll be my breath should I grow old
You are my lover, you’re my best friend
You’re in my soul
You’re an essay in glamor
Please pardon the grammar
But you’re every schoolboy’s dream
You’re Celtic, United, but baby I’ve decided
You’re the best team I’ve ever seen

Fullness of person, fulfillment of law

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul, Week VI-A, 16 February 2020

Sirach 15:15-20 ><)))*> 1 Corinthians 2:6-10 ><)))*> Matthew 5:17-37

Photo by author of pilgrims entering the Church of the Beatitudes with a painting of the Sermon on the Mount above the door, May 2019.

Jesus continues his Sermon on the Mount this Sunday, expounding the meaning of his teachings called the Beatitudes. As we have reflected last week, the Beatitudes tell us the person of Jesus Christ as being “poor, merciful, clean of heart” whom we must all imitate to become the salt and the light of the world.

Most important of all, Matthew presents to us at the Sermon on the Mount that Jesus is more than the new Moses as giver of laws like at Mt. Sinai in the Old Testament: Jesus himself is the Law, who is both our Teacher and Redeemer.

This we see in his teachings today when he claims to be the fulfillment of the Laws and the Prophets from God in the Old Testament.

Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill it. Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place.”

Matthew 5:17-18

Essence of the Laws: reflection of God, the good of man

Today, Jesus is teaching us to see the laws in the right perspectives, in the light of the will of God for the good of every person. Throughout his ministry, Jesus has always been consistent in reminding everyone that the laws were made for man, not the other way around.

During Christ’s time, people have lost the real meaning of the Commandments of God as priests and religious leaders focused more on its letters than in its essence and spirit that in the process, the laws have become burdensome. It has continued in our own generation with laws taking precedence over God and persons.

Photo by author of the Church of the Beatitudes at the Holy Land, May 2019.

At the Sermon on the Mount, we find Jesus restoring and recalibrating the laws so that these become more relevant and powerful as reflections of God in the service of man.

Jesus “relectures” us the laws in this part of his Sermon on the Mount by adding more righteousness (holiness), declaring that,

“I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Matthew 5:20

By using a pattern where he would cite Laws, saying, “You have heard that it was said”– Jesus shows us his fidelity and obedience to Judaism, contrary to his enemies’ accusations that he had abolished their laws. Moreover, in fulfilling the laws, Jesus put himself in the midst of every law and precept by declaring, “Amen, I say to you” or “but I say to you”.

In following that formula, Jesus gave the laws with a human face and a human heart in himself as its fulfillment so that from then on at his Sermon on the Mount, Christ made every law, every tradition, everything else to be seen always in his person.

Black and white photo by Mr. Jay Javier in Quiapo, 09 January 2020.

Performative powers of the laws in Jesus Christ

With Jesus in the midst of every law and precept as its fulfillment, God’s laws then become not only informative but most of all, performative to borrow one of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s favorite expression. This we find Jesus teaching us in three stages in our long gospel this Sunday.

  1. Education of the heart.

The first two laws cited by Jesus in this long list of commandments are “You shall not kill” and “you shall not commit adultery”. Both laws bring us to the very core of our personhood, of what is in our hearts and in our minds. The Lord explains that being angry as well as saying bad words against another person is like murder while looking lustfully at a woman is a form of adultery because in both cases, we have ceased to regard the other individuals as persons to be loved and respected, created in the image and likeness of God.

From Google.

It is an invitation for us to purify our hearts and minds for what defiles man is not what enters him but what comes out from him (Mt.15:11). Whatever is within us will always have an effect in all of our actions, for better or for worse.

What a tragedy that right here in the middle of our wired world of social media and instant communications, we have actually grown apart than together in the last 35 year with so much animosities fed on by lies and misinformation.

How ironic also that despite the information explosion from the Net, we have more benighted souls today than ever before who have actually gone to schools who know nothing of our history and geography?!

Education of the heart is formation of the whole person, not just a training of skills. One problem we have these days is when information is geared on data and facts without integration that we forget our relationships as well as the values we keep like respect, kindness, and dedication. Unless we have an education of the heart, a wholistic and integral formation, we can never be transformed into like Jesus Christ.

2. Get into the roots of our sins.

In telling us to pluck out our right eye or cut off our right hand if these cause us to sin, Jesus is inviting us again to probe deep into our hearts and being to understand what causes us to sin.

Photo by author, water plants in my room at the Fatima Parish and National Shrine, Valenzuela City, 2010.

The key here is to be totally free. In the first reading, Ben Sirach counsels us to “choose” rightly what is good and avoid what is evil.

We can only exercise our true freedom when we have clearer knowledge and understanding of ourselves and of things within us. We fall into vices and sins because we do not know what is going on inside us; hence, we are enslaved by our desires and sins to be not free at all.

Once we understand our sins, we commit them less often. Most of all, when we understand our sins, our struggles against committing these become more persevering, resulting to more triumphs than defeats.

The Season of Lent is near. Once again, we shall be busy with fasting and abstinence, contrition and confession of sins, almsgiving and other spiritual works that make us holy. But too often, these acts become mechanical that sooner, we sometimes reach that point when we cannot find meaning in doing them anymore that we sink deeper into sins and evil.

This happens when we get focused with letters of the laws and we forget its spirit that we become mechanical because we have failed to understand our very selves as well as our sins.

3. Be true.

Jesus said it perfectly well at the end of his teachings today,

“Let your ‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes’ and your ‘No’ mean ‘No.’ Anything more is from the evil one.”

Matthew 5:37

In this last installment of reviewing the laws, Jesus underscored the problems with divorce as well as with lies that continue to this day because we always choose not to be true at all with ourselves, with God, and with others.

Photo by author of the last two Stations of the Cross at the chapel of my niece Ms. Babs Sison in Los Baños, Laguna 13 February 2020.

See the wisdom of Jesus in putting together divorce and oaths, the two great lies that until now continue to mislead so many among us who refuse to accept and carry the cross of Christ, preferring only the Easter Sunday minus the Good Friday.

Being true is embracing the Cross of Jesus Christ like St. Paul in the second reading. It is something we cannot deny in this life. There will always be pain and sufferings. As Dr. Scott Peck put it in his book The Road Less Travelled, “life is difficult.”

At his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus clearly showed in his Beatitudes that he and his values are in sharp contrast to the wisdom of the world. And this wisdom is only accessible to those willing to embrace the crucified Christ and the scandal of the cross.

It is there on the Cross with Jesus Christ we truly find the fulfillment of the laws as well as our fullness as persons. Amen.

Have a blessed Sunday, everyone!

Remembering

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul

Saturday, Week V, Year II, 15 February 2020

1 Kings 12:26-32; 13:33-34 ><)))*> 0 <*(((>< Mark 8:1-10

Photo by author of a wood carving of the Last Supper from Paete, Laguna at a relative’s residence in Collegeville Subd., Los Baños, Laguna, 13 February 2020.

Lord Jesus Christ, you have come to always remind us to remember your great sign of presence, the Holy Eucharist when you told us “Do this in memory of me.”

That is why in our gospel today, you have again another scene where you miraculously fed more than 4000 people from just seven pieces of bread.

Such miracles of yo feeding the people, healing them of their many sickness are properly called as “signs” of your saving and loving presence.

They are meant to be remembered always of how much you love us.

Keep us to be faithful to keep on remembering your works so we may also remind others to remember your love and mercy for us all.

Help us not to be not like Jeroboam who diverted the attention of people away from you by building altar to false gods and initiating celebrations to idols that led others into sin against you.

May we bring people closer to you, not away from you with our life of witnessing especially in practicing our faith in the sacraments. Amen.

Coming to terms with death is coming to terms with life

Quiet Storm by Fr. Nick F. Lalog II, 13 February 2020

Photo by author, Mt. St. Paul, Trinidad, Benguet, 04 February 2020.

At the Ascension of the Lord, St. Luke tells us something very unique and unusual: the disciples returned to Jerusalem filled with joy.

Unusual and unique because when someone leaves us, either permanently like death or temporarily due to change of residence or jobs, we always feel sad.

But not the Apostles of Jesus along with the other disciples including Mary who were filled joy!

And so are we today because when someone dies, the person or our beloved does not leave us entirely. Though we do not see and feel them physically anymore, we continue to experience them personally.

Sometimes, we even grow more personal that there are people we feel getting closer with them after they have died.

Photo by author, Mt. St. Paul, Trinidad, Benguet, 05 February 2020

As I have been telling you, 2020 for me is tough with so many deaths in our Parish, in my family, and among my friends. Since last week of Christmas until the other week, I have been praying and celebrating funeral Masses almost everywhere.

This week, funeral Masses continue while at the same time, I have started celebrating the 40th days of those relatives and friends who have died last month.

In 1995, my father’s younger sister was stricken with pancreatic cancer. Being the eldest at that time among his nine surviving siblings, another aunt called me to ask my dad’s decision regarding their sick sister, if she would still go through surgery and just go home to Los Banos and wait for the inevitable.

He simply told me, “tell your Tita to just bring home Tita Rose; she had suffered enough and had lived a full life.”

Photo by author, Los Banos, Laguna, 13 February 2020.

That is when I realized that coming to terms with death iscoming toterms with life, and vice versa.

I know it is easier to say but that is how life is: we are often afraid to die because we know we have not fulfilled something yet, a mission or a promise made.

People who enjoy life, people with a sense of contentment are always the ones without regrets, always fulfilled, and ready to go.

And always, they are the ones who truly love that is why they live fullest, Valentine’s day or not.

God bless you and keep loving!

Photo by author, Collegeville Subd., Los Banos, Laguna, 13 February 2020.

Spiritual decluttering and tidying

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul

Wednesday, Week V, Year II, 12 February 2020

1 Kings 10:1-10 ><)))*> 0 <*(((>< Mark 7:14-23

Photo by author, Baguio Cathedral, January 2019.

Thank you for coming to us, Lord Jesus Christ, to save us, to cleanse us of our sins. What a tremendous grace and gift from you who are sinless to own up and wash away our sins!

Long before Mari Kondo had come advocating decluttering and tidying our homes, you were there first, O Lord, spiritually cleansing us, our inner selves in order to experience your peace and wisdom like King Solomon.

What must have impressed the Queen of Sheba in meeting King Solomon was more of his inner peace and stability, sincerity and honesty in answering all her questions: he was not hiding anything negative inside himself as he exuded with positive vibrations.

Precisely what Jesus was telling the people of his time and us today:

“Hear me, all of you, and understand. Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person; but the things that come out from within are what defile… From within the man, from his heart, come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly. All these evils come from within and they defile.”

Mark 7:14-15, 21-23
From Google.

Cleanse our hearts, our inner selves, Lord Jesus Christ.

Please do some spiritual “Mari Kondo-ing” into our souls to discard all filth and negative vibes we have been senselessly keeping, even nurturing, holding on in the hope of avenging for the wrongs done against us.

Cleanse us inside, Lord, so we may be filled with your light of reason and sparks of joy. Amen.