Holding On To God

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe-Prayer Tuesday

24 July 2018, Week-16/Year-2 Ordinary Time

Micah 7:14-15,18-20///Matthew 12:46-50

I cannot believe everything that is happening in the country, God. Are you kidding us? Have you forgotten us? At first, I thought it was only due to the weather that I felt so low, desolate. And now, in our country.

I feel like one of the remnants in prophet Micah’s time: those few left behind holding on to you with their little faith being shaken by the majority who seem more blessed and better off amid their infidelities and evil ways – and inanities as well. I feel like praying with the remnants of Israel of old, “Shepherd your people with your staff – the flock of your inheritance – that dwells apart in a woodland in the midst of Carmel. Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old. As in the days when you came from the land of Egypt, show us wonderful signs.”(Mic.7:14-15)

Keep me strong in my faith especially at this times everything is sagging in our country: our morals, our honor, our values, our leaders. Teach me to keep on following your Son Jesus Christ as His “brother and sister and mother”(Mt.12:50), striving to fulfill your will despite the many odds and temptations to be on my own, to join the mob with their truncated views on life and people. You are so merciful in forgiving my sins, and letting me go of my past. How can I leave you now in the middle of many storms, Lord? May these days of darkness past, and leave me standing before you faithfully.

I pray also Lord to those severely affected by the rains and floods. May they never lose faith and hope in you as we who were spared share more love and charity to them. Amen. Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II,Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria,Bulacan 3022 .

*Photo from Google.

The student and the teacher

LordMyChef “I Like Mondays” Quote, 23 July 2018:

“When the student is ready, the teacher appears.”

Robin S. Sharma, “The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari”, page 30.

CloudsGretch

*Photo by Gretchen Ira Banaticla, Virginia, USA. Used with permission.

Putting God on Trial

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The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe-Prayer Monday

23 July 2018, Week-16/Year-2 Ordinary Time

Micah 6:1-4,6-8///Matthew 12:38-42

God our Father, you never cease to surprise me with your creativity. Like a dedicated teacher, you never run out of illustrations of how much you love me despite my many sins. Today you present me with a court-room drama that I used to see in many TV series I have followed.

“Arise, present your plea before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice! Hear, O mountains, the plea of the Lord, pay attention, O foundations of the earth! For the Lord has a plea against his people, and he enters into trial with Israel. O my people, what have I done to you, or how have I wearied you?”(Mic.6:1-3)

Despite the many good things you have done for me, I continue to live in sin. I have turned away from you that no amount of worship and offering would suffice except “Only to do right and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with you, O God.”(Mic.6:8)

The saddest thing in this courtroom drama is how we have refused to rest our case, always putting you on trial with our sins, asking for signs even up to this time. Let us rest the case for you have dismissed it in our favor by sending us your Son Jesus Christ. Teach me O Lord Jesus, to seek no more signs from you. Help me to open my eyes and my heart to see in your Passion, Death and Resurrection that you are my life and my salvation.

In a special way, Lord I pray for our brothers and sisters severely affected by the continued rains that have caused widespread floods especially in Pangasinan and Bataan provinces. Give them something to eat this morning and keep them safe. Amen.Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II,Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria,Bulacan 3022 .

“Land of the Loving” by David Benoit with Diane Reeves (1986)

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Music//Week XVI-B//22July 2018

Resting in Jesus Christ

It is again Sunday, the day of the Lord, our rest day too. Rest is not merely a stop in our tasks and routines; rest is coming home to God. Our tagalog word for rest is pahinga that literally means to be breathed on. In the story of creation, man became alive after being breathed on by God. Whenever we rest in God, we come home to Him and let Him breathe on us His life-giving Spirit in the Holy Mass, in our prayers, and in our family gatherings. That is when we are also recreated in God. That is the deeper meaning of “R&R” – rest and recreation can only happen in God.

Here is a beautiful song by David Benoit sang by Dianne Reeves in 1986, “Land of the Loving.” It speaks of how a woman had finally found the love of her life, the one who truly loves her and gives meaning to her life. In finding her true love, she also found home, the land of the loving. Sing with Dianne in the lovely music by David, recall how Jesus invites you to come home to Him and rest. When you find Jesus and rest in Him, then, you are home sweet home…

Deep in your eyes is a promise
Love can be ours if we want it
Starting tonight every dream I ever knew
Here in your arms I’m believing
Finally my life has a meaning of its own
Here in the land of loving I am home

I was alone in the city

Searchin’ for someone to find me

Cold empty nights and a million strangers’ eyes

Here in your arms I’m beginning

To leave behind all the loneliness I knew

Here in the land of loving there is you

In this simple room magic is made

Though the world seems unchanged

Leave the lights on I’m a little afraid

This might be just one sweet dream

Deep in the night love is growing

Though I had no way of knowing

That when I found you I found ev’rything I need

Here in your love I’ll be staying

Fin’lly my life won’t be living all alone

Here in the land of the loving I am home

*Photo by Gretchen Ira Banaticla, Virginia, USA. Used with permission.

Resting In Jesus

Resting in Jesus Christ

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe, Week XVI-B, 22 July 2018

Jeremiah 23:1-6///Ephesians 2:13-18///Mark 6:30-34

As I was telling you last Sunday, discipleship is directional than about destination. And though we have different missions in life, every mission always has Jesus Christ as direction. Today we deepen this direction in Christ with the return of the Twelve after being sent by Jesus to their first mission last week when He invited them to rest with Him to a deserted place.

The apostles gathered together with Jesus and reported all they had done and taught. He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” People were coming and going in great numbers, and they had no opportunity even to eat… When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to preach them many things. (Mk.6:30-31)

Friends always wonder what kind of “rest” I take when I go on a little solitude every Thursday on my weekly day-off or during my annual personal retreat. They ask, “anong klaseng pahinga po iyon Father kung nagdarasal pa rin kayo?” Of course, I sometimes go on out-of-town vacation but when we try to reflect on our gospel today, we discover some beautiful dimensions about rest. To rest means to stop because tasks have been completed. This we find in Genesis 2:2 when God rested on the seventh day after creating everything good. In John 19:30, we find Jesus Christ saying “it is finished” when He died to complete His work of salvation that after His Resurrection, He ascended into heaven to seat at the right hand of His Father in heaven. To rest primarily means to stop because work has been completed like God when He completed His works of creation and salvation. But in the gospel today we find how Jesus and the Twelve could not rest nor eat because of the people coming!

Here we find the essential reality about rest which is always to rest in the Lord. We do not only rest with Jesus Christ but also rest in Him. Unlike God, we complete our works by episodes, not in its entirety. Jesus invited the Twelve to rest after completing their first mission given them. There would still be other missions to be given to them until Jesus ascended into heaven. Those missions continue to this day and would never be fully completed until His Second Coming. For us to fulfill any mission in life, we need to rest always in Christ because as we have seen last week, He Himself is our direction in the ministry. That is the direction of intimacy with Jesus, of being close with Jesus because it is Jesus Himself whom we share with the people we serve.

People would always be coming to us but never forget that before they all came, Jesus came first to call us and send us. Therefore, when we rest, we rest in Him too which is a call to a personal and intimate relationship with Him. Note how Mark referred to the “Twelve” last week and now being called as “apostles” upon their return from their first mission. This is an important shift in calling them as apostles for later we shall see they are distinct from followers or disciples. An apostle is someone who is sent forth ahead of Jesus. It is from the Greek verb “apostolein”, to send forth while disciple is from “discipulous”, to follow like discipline. Most of all, an apostle is someone who had seen Jesus Christ like the Twelve so that Paul had to insist on this title too because he met the Lord on the way to Damascus. In a deeper sense, an apostle is also someone very intimate with Jesus Christ, always interacting with Him, doing His works. We are all apostles of the Lord sent into the world to continue His saving works which demands a close relationship with Him in fulfilling that mission that is very demanding, even impossible. Most of all, what the people are really hungry and thirsty of are not things of this world but Jesus Christ Himself – His love and presence, His mercy and forgiveness, His joy and consolation. It is for this reason that when a priest asked St. Mother Teresa for any message to priests, she simply asked them “to give them Jesus, only Jesus, and always Jesus.” This will also be the focus of the gospel in the next five weeks when we shift to John’s gospel account of the bread of life discourse in chapter six.

In the recent Philippine Conference on New Evangelization, speakers kept on reminding us priests, religious and consecrated persons on this essence of our ministry: we can never be moved with compassion to feed the multitude like Jesus Christ when we are apart from Him. Of the many speakers there, I was moved most on the first day by the Bulakenyo Jesuit Fr. Albert Alejo who asked us, “who/what gives you joy in the ministry?” He reminded us to always go back to Jesus Christ in everything we do because without Him, we could never lead people to Him. He capped his talk with a beautiful metaphor of the rooster by demonstrating and mimicking how the rooster would crow at the break of dawn. According to Fr. Alejo, once the rooster had seen the first rays of light of the day, he stands erect first, flaps his wings to make sure he is already awake, then beats his chest to muster enough courage and strength to announce morning has broken with a powerful crow. And when other roosters follow with the same methodology of crowing, the whole farm is awakened as the new day begins filled with life and hope.

Without Jesus in our hearts, without resting in Jesus in every mission we have labored along with its triumphs and failures, pains and joys, it would always be difficult to feed the multitude. Worst like the shepherds of Israel, we could “mislead and scatter the flock of the Lord’s pasture”(Jer. 23:1) that has sorely marred our own history of the Church with the many scandals that have rocked us. Jesus Christ is the promised Good Shepherd God had spoken through Jeremiah (Jer.23: 5-6), the one sent to reconcile us all in God and with others (Eph.2: 16) whom Paul proclaimed in the second reading. This Sunday, let us not just stop from our work to rest with our gadgets and other things. Let us rest in God – magpahinga – let Him breathe on us His life-giving spirit so we may be recreated for the challenges of this new week. Amen. Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan. <lordmychef@gmail.com>

Firm Faith, Firm Self

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe-Prayer Tuesday

17 July 2018, Week-15/Year-2 Ordinary Time

Isaiah 7:1-9///Matthew 11:20-24

Thank you Lord for the reminder that “unless my faith is firm I shall not be firm!”(Is.7:9)

So many times I forget this truth as I try to do everything to make myself strong physically, mentally and emotionally. So many times I forget that everything is fleeting in this world especially my body, including my enemies. So many times I forget that the path to real strength of my person is in having a firm faith in You because only You remain.

Everything passes in this world; nations and peoples, cities and states rise and fall but not You, O Lord! You never stop speaking your words of wisdom into the silence of my heart, calling me to trust in You, to have faith in You as You find ways in saving me from my many problems and miseries. Give me the grace to repent and to harden not my heart when I hear Your voice in Christ Jesus. Amen. Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II,Parokya ni San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria,Bulacan 3022

*Photo by the author, Sacred Heart Novitiate in Novaliches, 06 July 2018.

“Devotion” by Earth, Wind and Fire (1974)

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Music

Week XIV-B//15July2018

Discipleship is Directional, Not About Destination

Somebody asked me last night after reading my Sunday reflection, “where is the direction?”

As I have shared with you, life is essentially directional and not about destination. Life is more of dealing with the questions “why” and “what” than of “where”. When we search more of the where, we can get frustrated because in this journey of life, we really do not know the place where we should be or would be. As we journey in life centered on Christ in prayer and silence, the more we still do not know of what will happen next, of what we’ll see next – yet, we are so excited. We continue living because we believe, and most of all, we love! When we love, we experience God. That is when we begin to realize that indeed, heaven is more than a place or destination but a presence — that is also when we find our direction. Here is a soothing music from Earth, Wind and Fire called Devotion from their album aptly titled Open Our Eyes released in 1974 that points to a direction. Enjoy!

Through devotion, blessed are the children
Praise the teacher, that brings true love to many
Your devotion, opens all life’s treasures
And deliverance, from the fruits of evil
So our mission, to bring a melody
Ringin’ voices sing sweet harmony

For you here’s a song, to make your day brighter

One that will last, you long through troubled days

Giving your heart the light to brighten

All of the dark that falls in your way

You need devotion, bless the children

Deliverance from the fruits of evil

In everyone’s life, there’s a need to be happy

Let the sun shine, a smile your way

Open your heart, feel a touch of devotion

Maybe this song will help uplift your day.

Make a better way

You need devotion….

https://youtu.be/13heVfqIRBE

Discipleship Is About Direction, Not Destination

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The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe, Week XV-B, 15 July 2018

Amos 7:12-15///Ephesians 1:3-14///Mark 6:7-13

I have always thought that since life is a journey, then life must be about arriving at a certain destination. This is very evident in early childhood when we keep on asking “are we there yet?” Later in life, this question evolved into the expression of “having arrived” to mark the different milestones in our lives. It has always been about destination that sometimes we wonder deep inside if we are in the “right place” at this particular time of our lives especially if you are near or past age 50. The problem is not about our chosen vocation or profession or path in life; the issue is, as we fulfill our mission, we continue to discover many other aspects and facets of our life’s calling that sometimes nudge us with the existential question if we have really arrived or are we at the right place already?

Our readings this Sunday offer us with consolation that life, after all, even if it is a journey, is not about destination but more of directions. Or, preferably we shall say “directional” to indicate a deeper meaning of what God wants us to be. This direction we can discover in whatever mission God sends us in this life: Jesus summoned the Twelve and began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over unclean spirits. He instructed them to take nothing for the journey but a walking stick – no food, no sack, no money in their belts. They were, however, to wear sandals but not a second tunic. So they went off and preached repentance. The Twelve drove out many demons, and they anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them. (Mk.6:7-9,12-13)

Our first point of reflection that life is more of a directional nature than a destination is the sending of Apostles “two by two.” It is actually an old practice among Jews to send missionaries two by two so that there is always a companion to testify to the preaching of the other. Notice how the evangelists enumerate the names of the Twelve also two by two. This practice continues to this day but in a deeper sense of always having Jesus as our companion. It is always best to have Jesus in this journey of life. This is why we receive Holy Communion on Sundays so that Jesus may accompany us throughout the week. The last sacrament that a dying person receives is not really Anointing of the Sick but Holy Communion for the Sick called “Viaticum” that means “with Jesus along the way” of death to eternal life.

In the second reading we find Paul speaking this companionship with the Lord when he mentioned three times the expression “In him” to emphasize that we do everything in Christ and never on our own. Discipleship and life itself are directional, always in Christ. No one can lay claim for himself or herself being a self-appointed missionary or prophet of God. It is always the initiative of God like in the experience of Amos in our first reading. If last week we heard how difficult it was for Jesus to be accepted in His own town as a prophet, today the story of Amos tells us the more difficult situation when a prophet like Amos from Judea was sent to their rival Northern Kingdom or Israel: Amos answered Amaziah, “I was no prophet, nor have I belonged to a company of prophets. I was a shepherd and a dresser of sycamore. The Lord took me from following the flock, and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’”(Amos 7:14-15)

Like us priests, or any volunteer in the Church, we were doing something else in life when the Lord called and sent us. We cannot lay claim to this mission of shepherding for we never wanted this on our own considering its enormous difficulties. It is not only an impossible job but even foolish if you say so! But we do it because of Jesus who initiated the call to follow Him while we were busy doing something else like building a career, preparing for marriage or just enjoying life in whatever form. We have no regrets in answering His call because we have found in Christ Jesus the person more worthy of our love and life. Life and discipleship are directional because both are a call to a relationship with Jesus which the song “Day by Day” says so well, “Day by day Lord, three things I pray: that I may know you more clearly, so that I may love you more dearly, and follow you more closely, day by day.” We do not really know where the Lord would lead us for there is no precise destination to speak of but only a direction which is to be like Jesus, to stay with Jesus.

Closely linked with this being with Jesus Christ is our task of being holy like Him. Following Jesus Christ is the direction of fighting evil, the very first mission He entrusted the 12 according to Mark in our gospel today. Authority over unclean spirits is the power to cast away the devil, the root of every illness in us and society. That authority can only be claimed in holiness, when we are filled with God. With the present situation we are into, we need to claim that authority more than ever as evil continues to destroy us, causing so much misery with deaths, divisions, and sickness it sows among us. The CBCP have recognized this sad fact in our society with the recent diabolic and blasphemous statements and events going on. The bishops have rightly reminded us that we do not fight evil with evil like vengeance but instead with prayer and fasting that purify us and give us strength to strive for holiness – the direction we all have to follow in whatever mission Jesus sends us to. Even Pope Francis reminds us in his third encyclical “Gaudete et Exultate” that holiness remains as our sacred call in life today.

Discipleship, like life in general is essentially directional. It is not about destination. It is useless to ask like children if “are we there yet?” because in this journey of life, we really do not know the place where we should be. Or we would be. But as we follow Jesus, we realize that what matters most is the inner direction within us He is leading us into to be able to fulfill His mission. And that is being holy like Him, always avoiding and fighting evil and sins. When we are holy like Jesus, then the more we realize that indeed, heaven is more than a place or destination. It is a “Now here”, a presence within us because we abide in God, we are inclined in His direction. A blessed week to you!Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ni San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan 3022

Photo by the author, Sacred Heart Novitiate in Novaliches, 06 July 2018.

What Does It Take?

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe-Prayer Thursday

12 July 2018, Week-14/Year-2 Ordinary Time

Hosea 11:1-4, 8-9///Matthew 10:7-15

I am very sorry Lord for so many things that clutter my mind today. It is always a struggle to be good. Not only in doing what is good but most of all in being with You, in staying with You, in always believing and trusting in You.

Sorry if so often I wonder if You mean even today that we must proclaim “the Kingdom of heaven is at hand, that we would cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons? Moreover, that without cost we have received and without cost must we give? How can we go on in this time without taking gold or silver or copper for our belts; no sack for the journey, or a second tunic, or sandals, or walking stick? Yet, You also tell us the laborer deserves his keep?”(Mt.10:7-10)

What does it take to really do Your will, God?

Based on what I have learned, there are many things that take for anyone to do Your will like faith, love, and courage along with detachment and “positive indifference” by St. Ignatius of Loyola. But last night before going to rest, I realized the importance of always reviewing my life, of examining not only my conscience but also my consciousness to see and feel how You have loved me immensely and continues to do so!

Reading Hosea over and over makes me feel sorrowful of my sinfulness yet so loved by You as my Father. How crazy have I been that “the more You call me, the more I drift away from You, forgetting how You have stooped to feed me, teaching me how to walk as Your own child. Yet, despite my infidelity and sinfulness, You never vent on Your blazing anger because You are God and not human like us.”(Hos.11:2, 3, 4,9)

Like the psalmist yesterday and today, let me see Your face, touch me with Your love and presence so that I may always stay with You and most of all, follow You closely. Somehow, like Your psalmists in the Old Testament, we have our gifted musicians who also make us feel Your love for us, Your longing for us. Help me to give myself to You too today. Amen. Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II,Parokya ni San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria,Bulacan 3022

Photo by the author, Betania-Tagaytay, August 2017.

Sent to Cleanse Evil

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe-Prayer, Wednesday

11 July 2018, Week-14/Year-2 Ordinary Time

Hosea 10:1-3, 7-8, 12///Matthew 10:1-7

God our almighty Father, as we celebrate today the feast of St. Benedict, we implore You send us the Holy Spirit so we may pray and work – “ora et labora” – in fighting evil in this world. Remind us always that like the 12 Apostles, we are sent by Your Son Jesus Christ with “authority over unclean spirits to drive them out and to cure every disease and every illness.” (Mt.10:1)

Like St. Benedict who admonished at the start of his Monastic Rule, may we “listen carefully” to Your voice in our prayers and labors, always“seeking your face” like what the psalmist sings today. We admit that our time is similar with that of Hosea’s Israel when idolatry is rampant, our “hearts so false” (Hos.10:2) and far from You. May we emulate St. Benedict in reawakening Christian life and ideals to heal us of so many infirmities plaguing our body and soul due to the spiritual and moral decadence around us. Amen.

St. Benedict, pray for us. Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II,Parokya ni San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria,Bulacan 3022.