Category: acceptance

Let nothing disturb you…

Quiet Storm by Nick F. Lalog II, 15 October 2019

Photo by Mr. Jim Marpa at Panglao, Bohol, September 2019.

Which is more difficult to confront, the fact of dying or that of suffering through a serious sickness? I have been thinking these for the past couple of days following my recent visitations of sick parishioners.

Today I visited a parishioner sick for the past three months with a lung disease. She’s 76 years old.

Right upon seeing me, Lola Milagros cried, telling me to ask God to take her because she’s so tired of suffering and waiting for death.

I just let her cry, holding her hands, as I listened to her pouring out of her aches and pains.

After that, I whispered to her the words of St. Teresa de Avila whose feast we are also celebrating today:

Nada te turbe… Solo Dios basta! (Let nothing disturb you… only God suffices!)

St. Teresa De Avila

So beautiful to hear and yes, easier said than done.

Can anybody with a serious ailment be not disturbed?

Been asking myself the same questions too. It is difficult not to be disturbed when one is sick. Aside from the costs of treatment are the enormous pains and sufferings one has to go through with the medical procedures and its many effects to the patient, who eventually would die.

It is a reality getting closer to home with me and I must confess, I am disturbed. Worried. And afraid.

Photo by Essow Kedelina on Pexels.com

The other week I visited another sick parishioner named Charlie, a former cook paralysed waist down due to a spine injury. He is only in his early 50’s.

What struck me when I saw him were the ropes tied to his both feet. I could not figure out how he could be restless when he is paralysed that his feet have to be tied?

He explained, “Father, I pity my wife when I have to wake her up every night just to move my legs. So, I improvised these ropes tied to my feet so I can just pull them with my hands in case I have to change positions even at night.”

Oh God! What a great love of a man to his wife!

Charlie loves his wife so much that he does not want her to be disturbed with his ailment and condition.

When there is love, we are not disturbed. And the only true love that can make us undisturbed is the love of Jesus Christ, the only perfect love we can have and find.

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Whenever we think of Christ we should recall the love that led him to bestow on us so many graces and favors, and also the great love God showed in giving us in Christ a pledge of his love; for love calls for love in return. Let us strive to keep this always before our eyes and to rouse ourselves to love him. For if at some time the Lord should grant us the grace of impressing his love on our hearts, all will become easy for us and we shall accomplish great things quickly and without effort.

St. Teresa de Avila

“Love calls for love in return.”

So beautiful words by St. Teresa de Avila.

We can only truly feel that personal love of Jesus if we are also personally in love with him.

We are disturbed with so many things in life when there is not enough love in our hearts, when we have not felt loved enough by others too.

Without love, we would always be disturbed.

I told Lola Milagros this morning to thank God for the gift of tears because they are prayers coming straight from her heart. That God knows very well all her pains and sufferings. Most of all, I told her tears are clear signs of love in her heart.

Later on my way home, Lola Milagros’ daughter was also teary-eyed as she told me she was so glad to see her mother cried. According to her, Lola Milagros is a very tough woman of the “old school” who tried to bear everything and even hide what’s inside her so as not to disturb them. She always wanted them to be assured all’s fine.

Lola Milagros and Charlie do not want to disturb their respective family because they love them. It is love that moves the sick not to disturb others and it is also love that enables us to assure them not to be disturbed.

The challenge therefore is not to reflect on whether to die instantly or slowly but to always love truly!

Sacred Heart Novitiate (Novaliches), 2017.

Human love is always imperfect. Only God can love us perfectly. This he did exactly to us when he sent us Jesus Christ who died on the Cross for us.

To love truly is be personally one in Jesus Christ. When we were still seminarians, Fr. Memeng used to tell us in our class “Priestly Spirituality” that “if we can really cultivate a deep prayer life, we can also experience Jesus Christ in the most personal way.” It is the experience of St. Teresa de Avila and all the other saints.

Nothing can disturb us in this life when our love is borne out of a personal relationship with Jesus in prayer.

Prayer life is more than reciting prayers by following a schedule. Prayer life is a relationship, a communing with God, of being our true selves before him, seeing ourselves as he sees us. And because of this assurance of his love despite our many sins and flaws, that is when we are not disturbed because God loves us no matter what.

When we are not disturbed, then we become silent. Presence is more than enough to share and experience God’s love. St. Paul said “love is not pompous” because true love is always silent, more on deeds than on words.

One thing amusing with death is that it always comes in silence, when we least expect it. Whether we die instantly or slowly, it always happens in silence. And that is also why many are disturbed of dying.

But, if we love patiently our self, others and God, nothing can ever disturb us because when we love, we are already in God. That is when we realize too the wisdom and truth of St. Teresa’s contemporary who claimed that

A soul that walks in love is neither tired nor gets tired.

San Juan dela Cruz
From Google.

Let us love, love, and love until the end onto eternity.

Only God suffices because God is love. Amen.

Befriending Jesus

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul

Tuesday, Memorial of St. Teresa of Avila, 15 October 2019

Romans 1:16-25 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> Luke 11:37-41

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

“If Christ Jesus dwells in a man as his friend and noble leader, that man can endure all things, for Christ helps and strengthens us and never abandon us. He is a true friend.

Many, many times I have perceived this through experience. The Lord has told it to me. I have definitely seen that we must enter by this gate if we wish his Sovereign Majesty to reveal to us great and hidden mysteries. A person should desire no other path, even if he is at the summit of contemplation… All blessings come to us through our Lord. He will teach us, for in beholding his life we find that he is the best example.

St. Teresa of Avila, from the Breviary

Many times in our lives we have always believed that holiness is just for a few people you have chosen, O God. We feel excluded from holiness, from being a saint.

Because we refuse to try to get near you, doubting you despite our belief in you as God!

“For what can be known about God is evident to them, because God made it evident to them.

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 1:19, 25

Sometimes we have tried befriending you through Jesus Christ your Son.

And like the saints, we have indeed experienced your presence, your reality, your blessedness but unfortunately we stopped striving further as St. Teresa tells us.

O dear Jesus, you always come to me, you always make me experience you but I always try explaining everything, letting my mind work more than my heart and soul that I fail to feel and experience you inside me like those Pharisees bent on finding faults in you.

Give me the grace to be silent and still in you, to wait for you as a friend full of love and trust like St. Teresa of Avila. Amen.

Jesus, our only credential in life

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul

Monday, Week XXVIII, Year I, 14 October 2019

Romans 1:1-7 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> Luke 11:29-32

Crucifix at the side of the chapel of St. John Evangelist in Cana, Galilee.

Dearest Lord Jesus:

Forgive us when we forget that you are our only credential in life.

So many times, we get carried away by the world to always look into the scholastic and other credentials of people we wish to listen to and follow.

And the sad part of that is how we also tend to work for ourselves for so many achievements and titles just to have credentials so that people would believe us, people would look up to us.

Teach us to be like St. Paul in having you alone as the sole reason for whatever we do and pursue in life. Teach us to be simple like St. Paul in defending himself against detractors and critics, and in convincing others of his mission, he only had you as his credential.

Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, called to be an Apostle and set apart for the Gospel of God… Through him we have received the grace of apostleship, to bring about the obedience of faith, for the sake of his name, among all the Gentiles, among whom are you also, who are called to belong Jesus Christ; to all the beloved of God in Rome called to be holy. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 1:1,5-7

Make us proud of you, Lord Jesus Christ!

Make us stop looking for more signs from you and from others.

Let us accept you as our Lord and Master who called us to follow you, to be like you. And sent to share your love and mercy, kindness and salvation. Amen.

Rejoicing in the Lord

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul

Saturday, Week XXVII, Year I, 12 October 2019

Joel 4:12-21 ><}}}*> ><}}}*> ><}}}*> Luke 11:27-28

Mosses have always amused me since childhood. This photo taken at the St. Paul Spirituality Center in Alfonso, Cavite last month during our annual clergy retreat.

Today I join the psalmist’s call to “Rejoice in the Lord, you just!” We have not yet won our battles, many of us are still struggling with illness and many other problems and issues in life while our nation is not getting any better with leaders so far from us who simply want to amuse us like clowns.

Still, we have to rejoice because you are with us, Lord.

Keep us steadfast in our struggles to follow your will, to be patient and persevering.

Enlighten our minds and our hearts with your Holy Spirit to always listen and obey your will revealed in the Sacred Scriptures.

Despite all the heat and mess we are into, life thrives under your loving shade that may sometimes be dark and damp. Just like the moss, take care of us and dwell in us, Lord, and let us live in you. Amen.

Prayer to believe in people

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul

Tuesday, Week XXVII, Year I, 08 October 2019

Jonas 3:1-10 ><)))*> <*(((>< Luke 10:38-42

Photo by Mr. Jim Marpa in Carigara, Leyte, September 2019.

Thank you very much, O Lord our God, for this wonderful Tuesday! Thank you for the changing of season with the coming of Amihan’s cool northeasterly winds replacing the warm and humid winds of Habagat.

Please do change also our perception of people around us, especially those we have boxed and stereotyped simply because they are not like us in beliefs, ways, and color.

Help us to believe in everyone’s ability to become better persons, receptive to your words and mercy like the people of Niniveh during the time of Jonas and of Mary, the sister of Martha whom Jesus visited in a village on his way to Jerusalem.

So often, we are like Jonas and Martha, so focused with our very selves that we are the only ones worthy of your love and mercy as if we have been endowed with special blessings and privileges from you.

How sad that we always feel so exclusive instead of being inclusive like you, sending rains to sinners and non-sinners alike.

May we let go of any hint of “self-entitlement” that have kept us apart from each other and worst of all, prevented us from truly being one in you whom we call “Our Father”. Amen.

Prayer for consolation

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul

Monday, Week XXII, Year I, 02 September 2019

1Thessalonians 4:13-18 ><)))*> ><)))*> Luke 4:16-30

Yvoire, France. Photo by Fr. Gerry Pascual, August

“Therefore, console one another with these words.”

1 Thessalonians 4:18

Today, O Lord, I felt your words fulfilled in my hearing.

When St. Paul reminded the Thessalonians in the first reading of your resurrection and of your second coming any time, I felt a dash of hope and sense of joy within because I feel no longer alone because you are with me.

How sad, O Lord, that despite our many advancements in the sciences and technology, we are still alone, fragmented as a people where nobody seem to care at all with one another, always moving, going places, refusing to even stay in one place anymore.

Sometimes, our words are alienating than consoling.

From the ancient language of Latin, help us reflect on the true meaning of to console which is from “con” or with, and, “solare” for alone that together literally mean “to accompany someone alone” or to be with somebody who is alone.

We are no longer alone, Lord, in your presence especially in your words and the Eucharist. Problem is, like your own folks, we always abandon you, leave you alone or worst, even drive you out of our homes for various reasons.

Help us to console, to accompany those alone, by sharing your words of life by giving life to your words to those around us especially the sick, those going through many challenges in life, and those abandoned by family and friends and society.

Let us come to you, welcome you instead of driving you away. Amen.

“True Colors” cover by Phil Collins (1998)

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Music, 01 September 2019
Showa Kinen National Park, Japan. Photo by Dra. Mai Dela Pena, 2016.

“For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Luke 14:11

Our gospel this Sunday is very timely as our headlines lately with the case of a transgender insisting on using the female toilet. Immediately, politicians jumped into the controversy for the media mileage without really reflecting more on its nature.

And the sad part of it all is perfectly hit again by our gospel today: when people choose places of honour, the more the disadvantaged members of the society are pushed to the margins.

“Rather, when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

Luke 14:13-14

It is for this reason we have chosen Cyndi Lauper’s 1986 hit “True Colors” written by Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly. The song was covered by Phil Collins in 1998 with a more jazzy beat which I prefer than the original.

Since its release, True Colors has become the unofficial music of the gay community especially with its message of showing one’s true colors.

But here we find the beauty of music that is always an expression of love, of what is good and true. True Colors speak so well of the gospel today which is about building our relationships with God and with others that starts with self-acceptance.

Jesus assures us that we all have “assigned seats” here on earth and in heaven; we simply have to accept who we really are for that is when we grow, when his grace and mercy work. True Colors is not about insisting on gays’ rights or the use of female toilets. It is about the gospel truth of accepting who we really are.

When Jesus said those who exalt themselves shall be humbled and those who humble themselves shall be exalted means be who you are and be your best self. If you are a father or a mother, be the best father or mother. If you are a priest, be the holiest priest. If you are a docotor, be the best doctor. If you are a husband or a wife, a brother or a sister, be your best self. If you are a male, be man enough to be your true self. If you are a female, be the loveliest woman.

In the end, everything and each one of us will be falling into our right places. No need to alter our bodies and everything just to insist who we really are.

And when we have become our true selves and better selves, that is when we are able to give ourselves to others in loving service.

See, when we choose other seats than those assigned to us and become an “epal” like most politicians, that is when we lost touch with those really in need among us. That is when we forget about humility which is being truthful to our very selves. It is only in being truthful to our selves can we truly be free to love and serve others to start building on our true relationships as brothers and sisters in Christ.

Instead of going to anybody for our concerns and problems, it is always best to come to Jesus always. And that starts right in our hearts first where we find our true colors, our true value as persons so loved by God inspite and despite of everything.

A blessed and lovely week to everyone!

Breaking the cycle of evil

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe, Holy Monday, 15 April 2019
Isaiah 42:1-7///John 12:1-11
Dominican Hills, Baguio City, January 2019 by the author.

This Monday is supposed to be different from all the other Mondays of the year for it is supposed to be holy. It is a step to your Paschal Triduum, Lord Jesus Christ, that begins on Holy Thursday evening leading to the glory of your Easter Sunday.

Being holy, O Lord, is being filled with you, being like you, Isaiah’s “Suffering Servant”:

Here is my servant whom I uphold…upon whom I have put my Spirit; he shall bring forth justice to the nations, not crying out, not shouting, not making his voice heard in the street. A bruised reed he shall not break, and a smoldering wick he shall nto quench, until he establishes justice on the earth.

Isaiah 42:1-4

Yesterday I found a beautiful quotation from the Facebook page of the Franciscans that I strongly feel making it my prayer this Holy Monday. It is easier said than done, Lord, but it is doable with your grace.

From Be Like Francis/FB

Give us the courage and grace Lord Jesus this Holy Monday to break the cycle of evil in our midst, to act not like some of those people of your time who tried to plot not only against you but also against your friend Lazarus whom you have raised from the dead.

It is very difficult, and even crazy but it is your way as the Suffering Servant, our Christ who broke our cycle of hate and violence. Amen.

Lent is accepting, more than understanding

Numbers 21:4-9///John 8:21-30
Photo from Google.

Loving God our Father, make our hearts bigger to accept you and let our minds be contented when we can no longer understand you. So often we complain of so many things we do not have, failing to see what you have given us, because we always try to understand you and your ways, both beyond us.

From Mount Hor the children of Israel set out on the Red Sea road, to bypass the land of Edom. But with their patience worn out by the journey, the people complained against God and Moses, “Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in this desert, where there is no food or water? We are disgusted with this wretched food!” In punishment the Lord sent among the people saraph serpents, which bit then people so that many of them died.

Numbers 21:4-6

Forgive us O Lord for complaining so much, forgetting to be grateful for what we have received from you freely. Forgive us most of all for challenging you, questioning you, doubting you. Please forgive us when we forget you are our God, we are your creatures.

How amazing were the poor among those in the temple that day listening to Jesus. So humble, so open to your presence who accepted the Christ while speaking in mysterious ways as a Person that the learned could not understand. How amazing were those poor they recognized the Christ in his pronouncements of the “I AM”:

“For if you do not believe that I AM, you will die in your sins… When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM, and that I do nothing on my own, but I say only what the Father taught me.”

John 8:24, 28

Remind us always, O God, that you are not a concept to be understood but a Person to be loved and accepted. Amen.

Crucifix at the Chapel of the Immaculate Conception Seminary by National Artist Erwin Castrillo, Guiguinto, Bulacan. Photo by ICS alumnus (Batch 82) Chester Ocampo, November 30, 2014.