The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Tuesday, Memorial of St. Anthony Claret, Bishop, 24 October 2023
Romans 5:12, 15, 17-19 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Luke 12:35-38
Photo by author at Forest Lodge, Camp John Hay, Baguio City, 12 July 2023.
Praise and glory
to you, God our Father!
So true are the words of
St. Paul everyday, "Where sin
increased, grace overflowed
all the more, so that, as sin
reigned in death, grace also
might reign through justification
for eternal life through
Jesus Christ our Lord"
(Romans 5:20-21).
Every day you bless us,
dear God in Jesus Christ
with the gift of forgiveness
in every present moment
to start anew and be free
from bondage to sin
and be free to do what is good,
to become a better person,
a better witness of your
grace of forgiveness,
prepared "like servants
who gird their loins and
light their lamp" awaiting his
return with our good deeds
amid all the evil and sin that
persist including death.
Though it is very sad
especially when we turn on the TV
or read in papers all those news
and images of wars and atrocities
that show the reality of how
humanity is still in solidarity
with Adam in our sinful ways,
may we always remember that
sin and death have no more
control over us; the death
is no longer the end we all fear
because it is no longer an end
but a beginning of something better
with Jesus who had overcome it
with his gift of forgiveness in every
here and now,
in every present
that assures us with eternal life.
May we not waste every
present that is a gift.
Amen.
Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 23 October 2023
The president of our hospital where I serve as chaplain posted yesterday a beautiful reflection on his Facebook page about the war and hostilities in Gaza, calling on everyone to pray hard for its peaceful resolution.
What touched me was when he said, “I am a doctor and in my heart of hearts, I feel that hospitals should enjoy certain exemptions. I wish then as now, that hospitals should never have their electricity or water cut-off… I am thankful that the hospital I work in is not in any immediate danger of being bombed. Life is already fragile as it is.”
As I have been telling you, I am a hospital chaplain. And like our president, in my heart of hearts, hospitals should be exempted from any form of violent attacks at all times. Wherever.
The word “hospital” is from the Latin word hospis which means “to welcome” from which “hospitality” also came from.
Since my assignment as chaplain at the Fatima University Medical Center in Valenzuela in February 2021, I have realized it was only then have I truly “welcomed” human mortality, both as an individual and a member of the human race. I must confess that it was only when I became a hospital chaplain have I realized in the most existential manner the meaning of being mortal, that someday I could be one of those patients lying on those beds with tubes and monitors attached to my body, perhaps in coma. During these past two years of visiting our patients every Sunday, sometimes daily or at the middle of the night or early morning when that Latin phrase memento mori – “remember you must die” – has become so true like the sword of Damocles hanging over my head always.
But, it was also during these past two years as a hospital chaplain have I discovered the amazing beauty and wonder of human life, of every person. It is only now at age 58 I have experienced the true meaning of a baby as “a bundle of joy”, of how great are the love and courage of a mother in delivering an infant. It was in our hospital where I experienced that life, indeed, is precious because it is fragile and vulnerable that so moved me in pity, even cried at seeing patients so sick, so close to death, whether a new-born infant or a 90 year-old. I am most thankful to God in making me experience his mysterium fascinans in our hospital where I am awed in the most wonderful way of finding how the human spirit fight for life, assert life and choose or find life rather than death. And when it becomes inevitable, that great wonder of faith and hope within in facing and accepting life’s end here on earth to move on to eternity in God, whatever name he is called by anyone.
Photo by author, Sinai desert in Egypt, 2019.
When I saw the news of that bombing of a hospital in Gaza, I felt something deeply different within me. At first, I wanted to get angry and curse whoever did that. What the Hamas did in starting this war was totally inhuman and unacceptable but whoever caused that hospital attack is bringing this conflict including humanity in general, to the lowest level. (It is still disputed whether it was an airstrike by Israel which they deny or a misfired rocket of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad they also deny.)
Every time I would see footages of Gaza’s overcrowded hospitals said to be at their “breaking point” due to great number of patients, I could feel as if my heart is being rend apart, teared into pieces because every hospital is like a church building or a place of worship were everybody is supposed to be welcomed to be whole again, to be healed, and most of all, to be cared at. Like churches and any place of worship, a hospital is a sanctuary for humanity, a hallowed ground where a burning bush of Moses is planted somewhere. Any act of violence in a hospital anywhere in the world is a total disregard of life and the human person, a sad reminder not only of our inhumanity but also of how can be “unhuman” too.
Very close in sound to hospis is another Latin word, hostis, meaning “enemy” from which came the words “hostage” and “hostile”. When hospitals are held hostage in war or any other situation, then it becomes a most serious and severe blow to humanity because it means we have closed all doors in welcoming each other, that we have decided to live on our own in total disregard of one another. I pray that wherever there is a war going on, enemies spare hospitals of their hatred where they can always feel welcomed and hopefully, be reawakened of our being brothers and sisters in one God we call in different names.
May our hospitals remind us this whole planet we all share as our one home is a sacred ground, whether in war or in peace, where humanity triumphs even in small packets because life is held holy and divine, a gift and sharing in the life of God. Amen. Let us keep praying and working for peace everywhere.
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A, 22 October 2023
Isaiah 45:1, 4-6 ><}}}}*> 1 Thessalonians 1:1-5 ><}}}}*> Matthew 22:15-21
Photo by author, Jerusalem, May 2017.
We are now getting closer toward the end of our liturgical calendar with our gospel scenes of Jesus still at the temple area in Jerusalem where his enemies were growing more intense in banding together to trap him for his arrest and crucifixion.
Many times, that same die-hard religious conceptions of the Lord’s enemies continue to distort our way of Christian living today. First of these is the apparent division between the realms of the world or Caesar and of God and his kingdom.
The Pharisees went off and plotted how they might entrap Jesus in speech. They sent their disciples to him with the Herodians saying, “Tell us, then, what is your opinion: Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?” Knowing their malice, Jesus said, “Why are you testing me, you hypocrites? Show me the coin that pays the census tax.” Then they handed him the Roman coin. He said to them, “Whose image is this and whose inscription?” They replied, “Caesar’s.” At that he said to them, “Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.”
Matthew 22:15-16, 17-21
Photo by Lauren DeCicca/Getty Images in Laoag City, 08 May 2022.
It’s election fever again in the country (does it ever end?) when talks on the separation of the Church and the state abound in every corner of campaigns and discussions. What is very funny is despite everyone’s insistence of such separation, candidates keep on going to every church and chapel of all faith to meet their religious leaders and followers who in turn endorse some of them!
Then and now, the division was more clearly in our hearts than in religion and political life. Despite everyone’s endless quoting of the Lord’s declaration to “repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God”, we remain more divided as a people and individuals right in our hearts where the first casualty is Jesus Christ. Then us and our loved ones.
The way of God as Jesus had shown and taught us is not found in opposing civil and religious or spiritual realms of life but in giving ourselves for the good of others in all areas of life, first to God and everything follows. Jesus Christ came to the word to heal our divided hearts, to make us whole again (and be holy) by showing us how we are all one in God, our origin and end. St. Francis of Assisi saw this unity of God’s creation and was so central in his life and teachings that he was able to literally live out the gospel values of both material and spiritual poverty.
Photo by author, Jerusalem, May 2017.
There are no divisions between the material world and the spiritual world because everything is created by God, came from God and will ultimately end in God. “Caesar” is everything of the world we so often give more emphasis in life, more attention and more focus. Primary is our own self as we consciously and unconsciously stamp with the image and inscription of “Caesar” as we try to hide and remove God’s image in us.
See how Jesus in many instances did not bother himself with our worldly affairs like being a judge to divide the share of inheritance of feuding brothers (Lk. 12:13-15) or of James and John asking him to have them seated at his sides when his glory comes (Mk. 10:35-45) because those things separate us from God and each other.
One tragedy of Christ’s time that continues today is when we the supposed religious leaders and guides are divided within each of us, so concerned with our own pride and other priorities in life like fame and wealth. Forgive us your priests and bishops whose lifestyle and way of relating to others betray like the Pharisees who and what is first in our lives.
Keep in mind how the Pharisees were not supposed to have anything that bears semblances of idolatry in the temple area like the Roman coin with image and inscription of the Caesar considered as god and emperor by the Romans. We priests and bishops still have that “Roman coin” today in the form of social media especially Facebook that show and prove more than ever how we are a church for the rich and not of the poor no matter what the gospel and documents say. What a scandal of our time to find priests and bishops shamelessly posted on social media always present, readily available especially for funeral Masses of the rich but never or so rare with the poor! These only prove to the people of the existence of the great divide among us Jesus had supposedly healed more than 2000 years when churchmen continue to play these days the very game of the Pharisees, scribes, chief priests and elders of Christ’s time.
Photo by author, Jerusalem, May 2017.
When we examine world history, it has actually felt easier for us to divide our lives into the material and spiritual realms by giving what is due and proper to each one. This has been the way of the world especially in the past 300 years at the start of the Industrial Revolution that resulted in so many inventions and scientific breakthroughs that have spawned various thoughts and philosophies.
On the outside or in the realm of Caesar, we seem to be better with more technologies and affluence but as persons, we have remained lost and more hurting inside that drive many into suicides and depression. How ironic when we are supposed to be better, crimes against human persons get worst these days with wars and atrocities still happening. Life may had drastically improved especially in the fields of medicine and communications but the gaps among us peoples have grown wider especially these last 20 years known as the “Fourth Industrial Revolution” characterized by digitization and robotics that include Artificial Intelligence or AI. Like in the parable of the wicked tenants, we have usurped everything from God, even our very lives and the world itself.
Of course, the obligations to Caesar and to God are radically different: to the state we pay taxes, but to God we give our undivided hearts, our total being. This is what Isaiah told us in the first reading that everything in history is directed by God for the good of his people. He is the God of history. Let no one mistake any god for God because “I am the Lord, there is no other” (Is.45:6).
When Jesus asked his enemies to show him the coin that pays the census taxes, he is also asking us this Sunday to bare our hearts before him to let him heal us of the divisions within that are reflected by the many wars and divisions in the world. The deepest divide within us in this time is when we live and act like the Pharisees and Herodians with insincere hearts living a big lie of living in “accordance with the truth” (Mt. 22:16).
Let me end this reflection with those beautiful words by St. Paul in our second reading today:
We give thanks to God always for all of you, remembering you in our prayers, unceasingly calling to mind your work of faith and labor of love and endurance in hope of our Lord Jesus Christ, before our God and Father, knowing, brothers and sisters oved by God, how you were chosen. For our gospel did not come to you in word alone, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with much conviction.
1 Thessalonians 1:2-5
Photo by author, Church of St. Anne in Jerusalem, May 2017.
So lovely! St. Paul is also talking to us today, assuring us how despite our many sins, of being slaves of Caesar and other gods like the Thessalonians who were pagans before, we too were willed by God to be called as his children in Jesus Christ.
We in the Church are a people despite our many flaws and imperfections especially us your priests were called out of sin and darkness to be God’s own people, beloved children. He has given us life in the Holy Spirit that when we look back in our lives, we are convinced in our hearts it was him who worked in us in the realm of material world. God has always been the “invisible hand” leading us when we felt so down and lost, defeated and almost dead. Here we are, still alive and forging on amid the many difficulties we encounter within and outside us.
When we cooperate with the grace of God and focus more on him than to the many Caesars, when we live in faith in Christ, laboring in his love for others, God becomes more present in our material world, enabling us to endure further life’s challenges in hopes that Jesus Christ will come again. Amen. Have a blessed week ahead.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday in the Twenty-Eighth Week of Ordinary Time, Year I, 20 October 2023
Romans 4:1-8 ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> Luke 12:1-7
Photo by author, Liputan Island, Meycauayan City, Bulacan, 31 December 2021.
Our loving God and Father,
help us learn St. Paul's beautiful
teaching today about your
righteousness and our justification -
that, essentially, everything
in this life is our relationship with you
and with one another.
You justified and redeemed us
in your Son Jesus whom you
sent to restore that relationship with you
broken by sin in Adam and Eve;
to renew and make that relationship
work, you made us new in Christ
to make us worthy before you
and with one another in your grace.
How wonderful as St. Paul explained
that long before your Laws came,
that relationship has always been there
wondrously expressed most especially
by Abraham in his deep faith in you;
faith is a relationship which Abraham
proved thrice to you:
when he obeyed your command for him
to leave his family and city to go to
the land you would show him;
when he believed even in his old age
you would give him a son in his wife
Sarah to become the father of all nations;
and when Isaac was finally born
as he grew up, Abraham willingly
gave him up to you when you asked
him to be offered.
In all three instances,
Abraham never sinned to you
because he upheld and
valued so much your relationship
with him.
Help us, God,
to be like Abraham in
upholding and preserving
most dearly this relationship
with you and with one another
we keep and nurture in faith.
For what does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. A worker’s wage is credited not as a gift, but as something due. But when one does not work, yet believes in the one who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness.
Romans 4:3-5
Forgive us,
merciful Father,
for being so proud,
always proving our worth
with all our works without
realizing that you have done
everything in our favor,
that there is nothing we can do
nor we may do for us to be saved
in ourselves, by ourselves
except to believe in you like
Abraham; let us not be hypocrites
like the Pharisees who do not
realize that everything is revealed
in you, including our thoughts;
let us remember that sin is
more than the evil acts we do
but most of all, our lack of faith
in you that we destroy
our beautiful relationships with
you and with one another.
Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday in the Twenty-Eighth Week of Ordinary Time, Year I, 19 October 2023
Romans 3:21-30 ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*> Luke 11:47-54
Photo by author, Makati sunset from Antipolo City, August 2022.
Your words today,
O God, invite us to look
deeper into your "righteousness"
which is beyond measure
for it is your way of being God -
your are kindness,
your are righteousness,
your are uprightness
that you justified us all
by acquitting us of our sins through
your Son Jesus Christ.
It was not that simple,
Father, when after you have
justified us in Jesus,
you went further in making us
a new creation in Christ
by setting us free from
the bondage of sin.
And there lies the beauty
and challenge of your righteousness:
you have made everything possible
for us to be better persons assured of
heaven but are we willing to take
and treasure that gift that calls
for commitment and responsibility?
What occasion is there then for boasting? It is ruled out. On what principle: That of works? No, rather on the principle of faith. For we consider that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of law… for God is one and will justify the circumcised on the basis of faith and the uncircumcised through faith.
Romans 3:27-28, 30
Forgive us, God,
for being so proud,
of putting too much premium
on economic achievements
as benchmark of success;
forgive us for being so proud
of being able to do
and have everything
in this world forgetting
that the entire humanity is
utterly dependent on you for
salvation and fulfillment and life;
most of all, that nothing we do is
accomplished apart from your
grace, Father.
Keep us humble and simple,
keenly awaiting Christ's daily coming
so we may walk with him
and lead others to him too
unlike the scribes and Pharisees
who have "taken away the key of
knowledge, refusing to enter
God's kingdom and worst, stopped
those trying to enter" (Lk. 11:52).
Amen.
Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 18 October 2023
Photo courtesy of Fr. Herbert Bacani, Parish Priest of Immaculate Conception Quasi-Parish in Marungko, Angat, Bulacan, 15 October 2023.. When the pastor is properly dressed, his servers follow; surely, the parishioners are not far behind.
Thank you very much for the warm reception to our reflection last Sunday on the parable of the wedding garment when we took as cue the lack of sense these days of dressing properly even among us priests. So glad many priests reflected too along the same line in their homilies last Sunday. And the message is very clear: we priests have to set the example in dressing properly and decently at all times.
Methinks this deterioration in manner of dressing of people has a direct correlation with the clergy’s “undressing” of their cassocks and clerical shirts after Vatican II’s reforms they have abused and misconstrued into something else. No wonder, it started too the downward slide of credibility of clergy made worst by the reports of sexual abuses.
Photo courtesy of Fr. Len Hernandez taken during our 25th anniversary with Bp. Dennis at his chapel, 18 April 2023.
What a shame and pity when people comment how some priests not looking as priests at all at the way they dress. Some at the extreme have become so secular with their worldly fashion senses of designer clothes, jewelries even bling-blings with high end cars and gadgets who look like actors and models than priests while at the other end are those lost hippies or beatniks and rebels of no cause at all with their long hair, maong pants and sneakers in vain efforts to do liberation theology yet too far from the masses.
Again, many will argue our personhood does not depend on our outside appearances like clothes. Of course but not absolutely true! Jesus himself had taught us in the parable of the wedding garment last Sunday that dressing properly is an imperative because whatever is seen outside is always indicative of what is inside. If we, especially us priests, could not even look good outside, how can others believe we are good inside? Besides, if we could not even dress up decently for any occasion, how can we be expected to fulfill other greater things in life? Remember the Lord’s reminder, “The person who is trustworthy in very small matters is also trustworthy in great ones; and the person who is dishonest in very small matters is also dishonest in great ones” (Lk. 16:10).
When I was in my second year in seminary formation, our former teacher in elementary school, the late Miss Santiago saw me on my way to serve in the Mass at our parish church. When she saw me perspiring a lot, she said, “Naku, Nicanor! Iyang pagsusuot pa lang ng sutana pala e malaking sakripisyo na sa inyo? E basang basa ka na ng pawis.” That compliment by one of our kindest teacher has been etched in my heart ever since, teaching me that valuable lesson that our cassock in itself is a homily. That is why in teaching communications in the seminary, I have always insisted to seminarians that the priest himself – his clothes, his hair, his language and everything – is a sign of God before the people. Hence, I have offered them with these simple propositions:
If the priest is not that good looking and his homily is also not that good and then he comes poorly dressed during the Mass, what would people think? What an ugly God we have! Ang pangit naman ng Diyos!
If the priest is not that good looking, his homily is also not that good but his vestments are beautiful as St. John Vianney would say are a homily in itself, then people are at least consoled to have a glimpse of God’s beauty.
If the priest is not that good looking but his homily is good complemented with his beautiful vestments, people are blessed as they feel God is indeed so good all the time.
If the priest is good looking, his homily is well prepared and prayed for with his matching beautiful vestments, people joyously sing “alleluia!” in their hearts as they are touched by God.
In 403 AD, St. Augustine wrote a catechism manual for his deacon named Deogratias called De Catechizandis Rudibus (On Catechizing Beginners) in preparing candidates for Baptism. Its most important lesson is found at the last part of the thick book when St. Augustine told Deogratias to always remember “the teacher/catechist is the lesson himself/herself.”
In the same manner, the priest is always the homily himself whatever he is doing and especially wearing, 24/7. There is no way of dissecting our being a priest from our being individuals and citizens; everything in us will always be seen and measured in Jesus Christ our eternal Priest and Master. That is why last Sunday in the parable of the wedding garment, Jesus taught us also of the need to be conformed in him, to be like him.
How can we priests demand people to dress properly in coming to the celebration of the Eucharist when we priests are the ones shabbily dressed?
What a shame when priests give as pretexts for not wearing the prescribed garbs because of the hot weather in the country or to be more attuned with the people we celebrate Mass with like the poor. Where is our sense of sacrifice? It is as if saying we are awaiting autumn and winter in the country before we could wear our cassocks and albs and vestments! And for those who insist on being one with the poor that they wear the simplistic white chasuble and stole, I say it is a disgrace because those who have less in life must have more of God. Mahirap na nga sila, titipirin pa natin sa magagandang gamit at damit natin?
How can we be vessels of God’s grace and blessings when we are untidy and dugyot at the altar and after the Mass?
Pinning and capping ceremony of our nursing students, Our Lady of Fatima University-Valenzuela City with our faculty members acting as Florence of Nightingale, 2022.
Another pretext many priests use for not wearing the proper clothes in their ministry is practicality which is essentially the capital sin called sloth. How could a priest bless a car or a store or a house no matter how small they may be with just a stole without an alb and still get stipend meant in part so he can be decently dressed? Where is our effort in serving the people if not in proper attire?
The worst case of priests along with their sacristan not dressed properly is in the celebration of the Mass for a wedding. It is so unfair and unjust when priests do not take time to consider polishing the minute details of the Mass for God’s sake as his signs and channels of grace for those embarking on a lifelong journey in Christ as husband and wife.
In my 25 years as a priest, I have always prayed for my family and friends to also love my priesthood. I think the same holds true for the people who need to embrace our priesthood, not us priests! If you love our priesthood, then, you will love our cassocks and albs and chasubles and clerical shirt too. Demand that inasmuch as we must prepare our homily, we must also prepare for our vestments. Inasmuch as you help us to be good, help us to look good too in representing Jesus Christ here on earth, reminding you of eternal life and bliss.
We live in so different a time than before where sentiments against the Church and her clergy are growing. This situation calls us priests to strive harder as witnesses and reminders of Jesus Christ. And that begins with the way we dress, the simplest and most basic sign of our identity.
Me during my conferral of the cassock, June 1991, Immaculate Conception Major Seminary in Guiguinto, Bulacan.
One of my unforgettable moments in my vocation history happened in 1991 when I returned to the seminary, nine years after being told to leave in 1982. That Sunday afternoon after being conferred with the white cassock, I felt something so different inside me as if telling God like the Prophet Isaiah, “Here I am, send me” (Is. 6:8).
The same prophet reminds us priests whenever we wear our priestly garments for the liturgy and ministry of that great song to God, “I will rejoice heartily in in the Lord, my being exults in my God; for he had clothed me garments of salvation, and wrapped me in a robe of justice, like a bridegroom adorned with a diadem, as a bride adorns herself with her jewels” (Is. 61:10). Let us sing that song rejoicingly, heartily! Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday, Feast of St. Luke, Evangelist, 18 October 2023
2 Timothy 4:10-17 <*[[[[>< + ><]]]]*> Luke 10:1-9
Painting of “Saint Luke Drawing the Virgin” by Flemish painter Roger van der Weyden (1400-1464); photo from en.wikipedia.org.
Merciful Father,
thank you for sending us
St. Luke the Evangelist
whose feast we celebrate today:
a physician,
an artist,
and a disciple of your Son
Jesus Christ.
"The Lord appointed seventy-two disciples
whom he sent ahead of him in pairs
to every town and place
he intended to visit"
(Luke 10:1).
Regardless of our state
in life, we, too, like St. Luke
are called to preach
and write the gospel of
Jesus Christ with our
lives,
with our silent witnessing
of his glory and humility,
kindness and firmness,
art and humanity,
intimacy in prayer
and most especially,
special concern for
women and children
until now so abused in
in so many homes
and in every nation.
Help us, dear Jesus,
to be like St. Luke,
a physician
for this world so sick
with wars and other
inhumanity to one another
perhaps due to our lack of
genuine love and respect
for women; what a joy to
read and pray St. Luke's
gospel account teeming
from the very start with those
wondrous stories of Mary
and Elizabeth who brought
us into the New Testament
with their sons!
Help us imitate St. Luke
as a true physician
who accompanied
until the end his mentor
St. Paul the Apostle:
"Beloved: Demas, enamored
with the present world,
deserted me and went to Thessalonica,
Crescens to Galatia,
and Titus to Dalmatia.
Luke is the only one with me"
(2Timothy 4:10).
O God,
how painful to think
everybody is saying that
the world population has to be controlled
when so many among us everywhere
are suffering alone,
dying alone?
Let us realize like St. Luke
Jesus Christ's declaration that
"The harvest is abundant but the
laborers are few" (Lk. 10:2)
that we may go too to your abundant
harvest to heal and console,
comfort and assure the many people
in pain and suffering.
Amen.
St. Luke,
Pray for us!
Photo by author, La Trinidad, Benguet, 12 July 2023.
This is a long overdue prayer-reflection, a fruit of one of my prayer periods during that week leading to October first when the gospel was the parable of the two sons (26th Sunday in Ordinary Time).
Jesus said to the chief priests and elders of the people: “What is your opinion? A man had two sons. He came to the first and said, ‘Son, go out and work in the vineyard today.’ He said in reply, ‘I will not,’ but afterwards he changed his mind and went. The man came to the other son and gave the same order. He said in reply, ‘Yes, sir’ but did not go.
Matthew 21:28-30
It was a Thursday, my day off I normally spend with a Holy Hour at the chapel of the PDDM Sisters at James Alberione Center in Araneta Ave., Quezon City. I usually present to God my Sunday homily every Thursday but that afternoon, I did not feel good. Maybe partly due to the weather that was so humid worsened by the afternoon drizzle. That was when I felt God telling me something about being “scattered” in life.
The word “scattered” has very picturesque translations in Filipino, sabog and kalat-kalat. Sabog is the direct translation of “scattered brain” or one who is disorganized and forgetful, could not think well clearly. Hence, sabog is also used to describe someone who is high on drugs or simply drunk and could not think seriously of everything. It came from the literal meaning of sabog which is an “explosion”.
Photo by author, summer 2021.
On the other hand, kalat-kalat means the same as sabog, could not think well because one is disorganized and messy, the literal meaning of kalat that may refer too to trash and dirt.
Many times we are like the two sons who were both scattered because their lives were not in order, both so concerned with one’s self, forgetting their father including their livelihood which is the vineyard. Many times in life, we get so focused with tasks and duties as well as obligations that we forget our relationships, forgetting the persons for whom our work are intended. That is why we also feel at a loss as we miss our bearings in life that are our relationships with God, with others and with one’s self.
Both sons indicated strained relations with their father. The elder son outrightly refused his father’s order because he did not see him that important, perhaps due to anger and resentments he harbored against him although deep down inside, he loves his father. That is why he was bothered by his conscience and later obeyed his father to work at their vineyard.
The younger son, on the other hand, was also scattered because his ego was so bloated in appearing so good to their father. He readily said yes to their father’s order just to look good before him but never fulfilled it because he never really had that deep love and respect for him.
Photo by author, 2022.
The first sign of being scattered, of being kalat-kalat is when we talk a lot that put us into trouble not necessarily with others but primarily with our self like the first son. We feel our inconsistencies and incongruence within ourselves with what we believe, what we know as right and good. We realize we are not walking our talk because of the great mess we are into, the mess around us like negative and other selfish thoughts that flood us. And all we wanted to do is to “pick up the pieces” of our selves, of our lives, and of our relationships. With God and with others.
Being scattered is something like a “soft depression” caused by burn out and lack of recreation and rest, a sign we have been losing grip of ourselves that we have to reassess anew our priorities and values in life. And always, the first person we forget is our very self as we get sickly, feel exhausted and tired easily, even grouchy and irritable for trivial even no apparent reasons at all.
First thing to do when we feel scattered is to naturally gather our self. Distance from our usual routine and people. Have that postponed medical check-up. And have quality “me time” like a movie or a short out-of-town vacation. We need to empty ourselves to be filled anew with God and his grace. Like Jesus, we need to go to a deserted place by ourselves, literally and figuratively speaking.
To gather one’s self is an invitation from God himself for more intense prayers to bond again in Jesus by laying aside all our plans and goals, forgetting all about ourselves even of others for a while to ask the Lord what he wants from us. It is easy to claim and convince ourselves what we are doing are for the Lord but the real thing necessary is that we simply do his works!
Christ had repeatedly said that “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters” (Lk. 11:23 or Mt. 12:30). If what we are doing are the works of the Lord, there will always be joy and fulfillment. Even despite difficulties and exhaustion.
Photo by author, 2022.
Overall, this feeling of being scattered is an invitation from God himself for us to put him back at the center of our lives and we start doing his works that are often simpler than what we envision and plan. Whenever there is this feeling of being scattered, I pray:
God our loving Father,
help me find my way back home
to you in Jesus your Son;
many times I talk too much,
even write a lot about you
and for you but often,
they are for me too
and against others;
help me, dear Father
in this mess and disorder;
when you created the world,
everything was in chaos;
breathed into me your
Holy Spirit
to make me alive again
in you and for you,
doing your work,
obeying your will
in the way you want it,
not mine.
Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Tuesday, Memorial of St. Ignaitus of Antioch, Bishop & Martyr, 17 October 2023
Romans 1:16-25 ><}}}}*> + <*{{{{>< Luke 11:37-41
Photo by Dr. Mylene A. Santos, MD, in Le Teich, France, 17 July 2023.
God our Father,
today I felt you tickled my bone
in prayer as your words reminded
me of one of Aesop's famous fable,
"The goose that laid the
golden egg",
of how often we are like
the husband and wife owners
of that Goose who foolishly
slaughtered the poor bird
only to find its inside
was just like any other other
without any gold at all inside!
In killing the Goose,
they have deprived themselves
of their fortune.
Is it not the same thing
St. Paul is telling us today
as he had told the Romans before?
While claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of immortal God for the likeness of a mortal man or of birds or of four-legged animals of snakes. Therefore, God handed them over to impurity through the lusts of their hearts for the mutual degradation of their bodies. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and revered and worshipped the creature rather than the creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
Romans 1:22-25
Forgive us, dear Father,
in "killing" you so often
in our unconscious subscription
to that most untrue and foolish
statement that "God is dead";
in continuously "crucifying"
Jesus your Son in exchange of
our perceived good like these
new, liberal thoughts about
sexuality and genders,
freedom and morals,
science and technology
that we so worship these days
than you!
We are like that Pharisee
in today's gospel who pretend
to always invite Jesus into our lives
only to test him,
to catch lapses in his words
and teachings so we can lead
our lives the way we want it;
forgive us, dear Lord for
being so foolish!
Grant us the enlightenment
and courage you bestowed
upon St. Ignatius of Antioch
to remain faithful to you and your
Cross, Lord Jesus Christ,
bearing all pains and sacrifices
for the sake of your church unity
and for charity; let us heed his
words to the Romans before
dying at the Colosseum to
"Do not talk about Jesus Christ
as long as you love this world."Amen.
St. Ignatius of Antioch,
Pray for us!
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A, 15 October 2023
Isaiah 25:6-10 ><}}}}*> Philippians 4:12-14, 19-20 ><}}}}*> Matthew 22:1-14
Photo by Mr. Jay Javier in Taal, Batangas, 15 February 2014.
I grew up in a generation when dressing properly – meaning, decently – was deeply inculcated both at home and the school. It has always been considered in our time as a sign of maturity when we come properly attired in every occasion.
Now, those days are gone along with the expression “Sunday’s best” when sneakers are paired with formal suits and worn even in weddings! Dressing has become so relative with total disregard for basic fashion sense and worst of all, without any sense of propriety at all in the name of personal comfort and style as well as individuality. That culture on “liberal” or “liberated” dressing has encroached into the church with priests refusing to wear the proper garments and dress as required by Code of Canon law. How ironic that while the lay people appreciate us priests dressed properly for the liturgy and ministry, the harshest insults and negative reactions against it come from some priests who argue using the hot weather as an excuse. Many priests have subscribed to the lame excuse of people that clothes do not make us who we are, that there is much more beneath the clothing we wear of who we really are.
True but not absolutely because what we wear, how we look outside is indicative of who we are, what we value, what we believe in. Dress speaks a lot about ourselves whether we like it or not as the Lord’s parable this Sunday teaches us.
The servants went out into the streets and gathered all they found, bad and good alike, and the hall was filled with guests. But when the king came in to meet the guests he saw a man there not dressed in a wedding garment. He said to him, ‘My friend, how is it that you came in here without a wedding garment?’ But he was reduced to silence. Then the king said to his attendants, ‘Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.’ Many are invited, but few are chosen.”
Matthew 22:11-14
Photo by Fr. RA Valmadrid, National Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima, 13 October 2023.
We now come to the third and final series of parables addressed by Jesus Christ directly to his enemies, the chief priests and elders of the people while teaching at the temple area in Jerusalem to underscore to them the need to reform their lives and be converted to his good news of salvation like the tax collectors and prostitutes.
See how in today’s parable some semblances with the parables of the two sons and wicked tenants of the past two weeks to show us God’s loving patience in doing everything to make us come to him like the subjects of the king with all the chances to come to his son’s wedding banquet.
And like with the parables of the past two Sundays, Matthew makes again a crucial twist in today’s parable that can be sufficiently ended in that part when the king was enraged by the continued refusal of his guests to come to his son’s wedding banquet that he ordered them all killed and instead extended his invitation to everyone in the streets.
The wedding banquet is heaven like the vineyard in the parables of the past two Sundays.
But it is not only referring to heaven at the end of time but also speaks so well of the here and now – the present life we live as citizens of the kingdom of God in Jesus Christ. Rejecting the invitation to come to the meal which as an expression of our citizenship in God’s kingdom is an act of disloyalty and treason against him.
Photo by Arch. Philip Santiago, Hearts of Jesus and Mary parish, Malolos City, 2022.
When we were baptized, we became citizens of the kingdom of God. We do our “pledge of allegiance” to God as his citizens every time we pray and most especially celebrate Mass which is just half of the whole deal of being citizens of his kingdom! Like in being Filipinos or whatever nationality we have, we must live up to our citizenship in God’s kingdom by being good and holy. That is the wedding dress referred to in the parable, the life we lead as children and citizens of God and his kingdom.
Jesus invites us today to face squarely the uncomfortable issues that prevent us from being his good and faithful disciples and citizens of God’s kingdom. Many times we are like those invited guests in the parable who allowed something else in their lives like their wealth and possession, businesses and worldly pursuits become more important than their allegiance to the King. Every time we sin, every time we skip the Sunday Mass, that is when we have our new God and King that may be our very selves, gadgets, vices, or the malls we frequent more than the church!
Here we find a deepening in Jesus Christ’s invitation to conversion into conforming our lives into him. St. Paul made a lot of beautiful imageries of “putting on Jesus Christ” as our new clothes and garment which we have retained in the Rite of Baptism when the newly baptized is clothed with the white dress. See how the man caught by the king fell silent when confronted because there was no excuse at all at not wearing the wedding dress in the banquet. The same thing is true with us today. We have no excuse for not being dressed, for not being conformed in Jesus Christ in our lives as his disciples. Everyday he gives us the opportunities of being conformed to him through our daily conversions through prayers and good works. God does not expect us to wear extravagant nor expensive clothes for his wedding banquet; just a clean and decent clothes are enough. Nobody is perfect.
Photo by Dra. Mylene A. Santos, MD at Tagalag, Valenzuela City, 13 September 2023.
One of the things I used to enjoy in my school and seminary days were joining stage plays. Yes, I love acting but I just don’t know if acting (and singing) love me. Nonetheless, one of our most dreaded moments before the actual play was always the dress rehearsal when everything is considered as the “real thing”, the real play as our teaches and nuns have insisted when we were supposed to have memorized our lines and cues.
But, as I grew and matured, I realized that life is not a dress rehearsal at all; each day is an actual “play”, a “live” presentation where we must “perform” or “act” so well. Yes, we are all required to memorize our lines and cues in life but many times, we forget them. Nobody is perfect. And here lies the immense love and kindness of God to us: he allows us to improvise for our selves in case we have forgotten our lines just like those people instantly invited to the wedding banquet of the King’s son. They were able to improvise to make it to the banquet hall except for that one who came not dressed for the occasion. He was silent because he was so lazy to improvise, to find ways like the chief priests and elders in the time of the Lord. Until now, many of us make a lot of excuses and alibis for not being conformed in Christ, from the ordinary excuse of being “difficult” to the most absurd that “I am only human” or tao lamang, mahina at marupok. Keep in mind St. Paul’s words in the second reading, “I can do all things in him who strengthens me… My God will supply whatever you need, in accord with his glorious riches in Christ Jesus” (Phil.4:13, 19).
Photo by Ka Ruben, National Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima, 2022.
Every Sunday we are invited to celebrate with others the coming of Jesus and the salvation he has won for us. This wedding banquet is the Sunday Mass we celebrate, a fulfillment of the first reading from Isaiah of that mountain where “the Lord of hosts will provide for all peoples a feast of rich food and choice wines, juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines” (Is. 25:6). In the Holy Eucharist, we have the choicest food and drinks – the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ – given to us to nourish us and keep us strong in this journey of life into eternity in heaven with the Father.
How amazing that nothing is really imposed upon us in coming to this banquet of the Lord in the Eucharist that is totally free of charge except that we have to come properly dressed on the inside, of being conformed in him.
But please, let’s get dressed also on the outside. No need to wear expensive and beautiful clothes. Just proper and clean ones are more than enough. A good rule of thumb we can rely on is this: God has blessed me tremendously this week and I am coming to celebrate with him, for him. How do I look to to express to him my gratitude and appreciation to his wondrous gifts? Amen. It is a Sunday, go to Mass!
