Category: acceptance

When we drag words down

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Sunday in the Fifteenth Week of Ordinary Time, Cycle A, 16 
Isaiah 55:10-11 ><]]]]'> Romans 8:18-23 ><]]]]'> Matthew 13:1-23
Photo by author, Bgy. Bahong, La Trinidad, Benguet, 12 July 2023.

Surely you will hear in almost all homilies today something about that blasphemous drag version of the Lord’s Prayer trending in social media. What a coincidence that our Scripture readings this Sunday say a lot about words that teach us so much in dealing with this new kind of pandemic sweeping the world, the “LGBTQ+ woke” syndrome happening in the realm of words and languages.

In the light of recent things happening in our society, today’s readings tell us two important things we have forgotten or have deliberately disregarded: the power of God’s word and the need to listen.

Thus says the Lord: Just as from the heavens the rain and snow come down and do not return there till they have watered the earth, making it fertile and fruitful, giving seed to him who sows and bread to him who eats, so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; it shall not return to me void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it.

Isaiah 55:10-11
Photo by author, Bgy. Alno, La Trinidad, Benguet, 11 July 2023.
The power of God's word

Our short reading from Isaiah perfectly introduces us to the sequence of Christ’s teachings in the next three Sundays beginning today about the power of God’s word, a preparation for us to understand the parable of the sower.

Here we find from the Prophet Isaiah God’s word as totally “other” – ibang-iba sa lahat – as it reveals and acts because it is the truth and effectiveness in one. See how Isaiah picturesquely expressed the power of God’s word, “Just as from the heavens the rain and snow come down and do not return there till they have watered the earth, making it fertile and fruitful… so shall my word be; it shall not return to me void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it.“

The Bible never fails in attesting to this conviction, of how God means what he says that has become the very basis of our hopes in him since the very beginning. Everything flows from God’s word, from the creation of the world and the universe to its fulfillment in Jesus Christ until he comes again at the end of time. God’s word creates history with power to renew and restore life, the power to save us as experienced by the thief on the Cross when he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” (Lk.23:42).

Photo by author, Camp John Hay, Baguio City, 12 July 2023.

Contrast God’s word with our human experience aptly expressed by Shakespeare in Hamlet’s famous quote, “words, words, words!” – of how we use so many words in the belief more is powerful when in fact our words are vain and empty, lacking in substance. Instead of giving life, many times our words hurt and even kill others. In this age of social media, see how we use words to distort truth with lies and deceptions. Its worst aspect is not found in the words we use but in us who pronounce them when we say things without any commitment at all so that many times, our words never stood the test of time because they are easily forgotten when spoken or heard.

St. Paul said it so well in the second reading, of how “all creation is groaning in labor pains even until now” (Rom.8:22) especially when we distort the truth of our words, when we do not mean what we say, when we our words divide instead of unite, when our words destroy instead of build.

See how sin entered through the “words” of the devil that deceived Adam and Eve with the first “fake news” in history that they would not die if they ate the forbidden fruit but instead become like God. Sin took on its ugly face in the use of words again after the first crime of murder committed by Cain who dared to say to God “am I my brother’s keeper” when asked of the whereabouts of Abel.

Words continued to be the means through which sin permeated humans reaching its lowest point when people played God again by building the Tower of Babel to reach the heavens. God punished them by making them speak different languages that resulted in confusion and the collapse of the tower.

How sad that these days, human words are made louder, spread faster by technologies try so hard to undermine God’s word. There is no doubt on the power of the word of God for he himself had shown and assured it. For his words to be fully operational and experienced, we must first listen to Jesus, the word who became flesh.

Photo by author, Camp John Hay, Baguio City, 12 July 2023.
Listening to the word of God

“Whoever has ears ought to hear.”

Matthew 13:9

Jesus used these words seven times in the synoptic gospels, usually in connection with parables like in Matthew chapter 13 which we shall be using in the next three Sundays. We heard it first today and again next Sunday when Jesus explained the parable of the weeds.

His command to “hear” requires more than just taking in the words he speaks to us. To truly hear what Jesus is saying especially within the context of the parables, we must profoundly ponder what he wishes us to know. Just like in our prayers: what is essential is to be able to listen more to God than to tell him our needs which he already knew.

This can only happen in the spirit of silence and openness to God when we suspend our many preconceptions and other ideas especially about the parables we have been so familiar with.

Photo by author, Camp John Hay, Baguio City, 12 July 2023.

The seed is the word of God and Jesus is the Sower who comes to us everyday, speaking to us, telling us the most important things we need to know and do in this life for us to be fulfilled and joyful.

But, do we have our ears attuned to the word of God? Many of us practically live in media, so hooked with gadgets either or both the cellphone and headsets or pods. Nobody seems to listen anymore as we are so engrossed in our own little world centered in the endless me, me, me and I.

In the parable, it does not really matter where the seeds fell; it is always good, at least even as food for the birds! Wherever it fell, the seed always sprang into life! That is the power of the word of God! We just have to give it a chance to grow and mature to bear fruits of “a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold”.

To hear the word of God means also to have our hearts opened to receive God so we can gain insight into the kingdom of God. It is in our hearts where the word of God is sown. Stones and thorns refer to the hardness of our hearts, our refusal to welcome Jesus Christ because we have been dominated by fame and power and other cares of this modern world.

Receiving the word of God is a process, not just a one-shot deal. It is a relationship we have to cultivate in Jesus Christ, just like the ones we try to have with our plants. The Lord himself had warned us repeatedly in the gospels of how there would always be opposition and indifference, even mockery and blasphemy right in the very places where his word should manifest its effectiveness like in our country, the only Christian-nation in this part of the world. If ever the word is not fruitful, it is primarily due to our dispositions and attitudes to God and his word.

Photo by author, Camp John Hay, Baguio City, 12 July 2023.

How timely that at this particular moment in our country we heard again this classic parable of the sower by Jesus Christ.

We, especially in the Church, are being reminded anew to humbly open ourselves to God and his word, to give it a chance to grow and bear fruit, including our rules and other documents especially in the liturgy.

In spending so much time about the posture the laypeople should take in praying the Our Father in the Mass notwithstanding what the rubric says, the devil sneaked into the scene with this drag cover of the Lord’s Prayer. This is something we must reflect. Why even the drag queen had joined the discussion of the Our Father that have deeply hurt us all! With this recent decision by the bishops, the more it seems that the drag version of the Lord’s Prayer is partly our fault too. Let us go back to God and trust his word anew. And the words of the liturgy too. Amen. Have a blessed week ahead!

Prayer for fellow workers in Christ

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday in the Eleventh Week of Ordinary Time , Year I, 19 June 2023
2 Corinthians 6:1-10   ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'>   Matthew 5:38-42
Photo by Dra. Mylene A. Santos, MD in San Antonio, Zambales, 05 June 2023.
Thank you dear Jesus
for the call to serve you;
thank you Lord for your
trust and belief in us;
thank you for the grace
to respond to your call
in every present moment
because, indeed, every 
here and now is the acceptable
time and day of salvation.
Help us dear, Jesus,
as your great apostle St. Paul
appealed to us 
in the first reading today, 
may we not receive
the grace of God 
in vain:

on the contrary, in everything we commend ourselves as ministers of God, through much endurance, in afflictions, hardships, constraints, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, vigils, fasts; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, in a Holy spirit, in unfeigned love, in truthful speech, in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness at the right and the left; through glory and dishonor, insult and praise.

2 Corinthians 6:4-8
Nobody said it to be easy
to follow you as your disciples, 
Lord Jesus; you have personally
shown us the way of love and 
mercy, peace and kindness
that the world would never
understand; only someone with
a heart like yours, no matter how
imperfect it may be, will find you 
and the joy and fulfillment you 
give especially when "we are treated
as deceivers and yet are truthful; 
as unrecognized and yet acknowledged;
as dying and always rejoicing; as poor
yet enriching many; as having nothing
and yet possessing all things"
(2 Cor. 6:8-10).
Lord Jesus Christ,
let us not give up easily
in the face of trials and
criticisms; please erase
or delete from our minds
and hearts that our efforts to
be like you, to be your witnesses
in the world should be met
with admiration and respect;
let us keep that in mind
so we may not waste time
and energy complaining
and whining with our
sufferings in doing your work;
O Lord Jesus, open our eyes
and our hearts to find you
always in our ministry
and realize that great 
privilege of sharing 
in your passion, death,
and resurrection daily.
Amen.

Opening to God

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday, Memorial of St. Scholastica, Virgin, 10 February 2023
Genesis 3:1-8   ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'>   Mark 7:31-37
Photo by author, 05 February 2023.
God our Father,
today your words teach us
what is to be truly opened,
when openness leads us to sin
and when the same openness leads
us to grace.

But the serpent said to the woman: “You certainly will not die! No, God knows well that the moment you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods who know what is good and what is evil.” …Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized that they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.

Genesis 3:4-5, 7
Keep us open to you always, Lord;
let us not dare open our eyes to things
we cannot completely see nor
comprehend;
keep us at home with the truth that
there are many things that seem only to be
apparently good and better not seen at all
because our eyes cannot completely see
and embrace the whole reality;
let us not dare to open things that
would only close us, 
shut us out from you.

then he (Jesus) looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him, “Ephphatha!” (that is, “Be opened!”). And immediately the man’s ear’s were opened, his speech impediment was removed, and he spoke plainly.

Mark 7:34-35
Like that deaf man
with a speech impediment
healed in the gospel today,
open us, O God our Father
in your Son Jesus Christ by
setting us aside from the noise
of the world, touching our senses,
and opening ourselves 
to your loving presence
and to your very person
so we may experience too
your healing comfort
and consolation;
give us the courage 
to open up to you,
like St. Scholastica
to bare our souls
and give our lives to you
in Christ Jesus who had come
to open for us anew the heavens
and finally be one in you
and with you.
Amen.

Finding God in the ordinary

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday in the Fourth Week of Ordinary Time, Year I, 01 February 2023
Hebrews 12:4-7, 11-15     ><]]]'> + ><]]]'> + ><]]]'>     Mark 6:1-6
Jesus departed from there 
and came to his native place,
accompanied by his disciples.
When the sabbath came
he began to teach in the synagogue,
and many who heard him were astonished
(Mark 6:1-2).

How nice, O Lord,
that you never stop 
to come home with us,
to be with us,
to be one of us.
And too often,
we are astonished
with your works.
Just like your local folks
back then at Nazareth.
So often, it all ends
that way with us with you,
Jesus:  we are astonished,
surprised, amazed, and wowed
by your works.
But rarely by your person
that we cannot see you anymore
in ordinary things and most especially,
when things become difficult.
Forgive us, Jesus, when like
your town folks, we also "took
offense at you" (Mk. 6:3), 
questioning you,
daring you with your powers;
make us realize the beauty of
you being a Brother,
a Friend to us,
someone we can come to,
someone we can rely on
as being present with us
always, and most of all,
our life and salvation 
for you are our Lord and Master.
Help us also endure our trials 
as a discipline like what the author of the
Letter to the Hebrews exhorted us
in the first reading today;
let us enter into a personal relationship
with you, Jesus, so we may also experience
our being children of the Father
who disciplines us with the trials
that come our way.

At the time, all discipline seems a cause not for joy but for pain, yet later it brings the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who are trained by it. So strengthen your drooping hands and your weak knees. Make straight paths for your feet, that what is lame may not be dislocated but healed.

Hebrews 12:11-13
On this first day of February,
open our eyes and our hearts
to you dear Jesus that we may find you
always in ordinary and difficult times
of our lives for that is when 
you are most present in us and 
among us.  Amen.

Something old, something new

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday in the Second Week of Ordinary Time, Year I, 16 January 2023
Hebrews 5:1-10     ><000'> + ><000'> + ><000'>     Mark 2:18-22
Glory and praise to you,
O God our loving Father,
for this brand new day
to begin anew in life,
to bridge and process
our past so we may live fully
in every present moment 
as we project our future.
Beginning today,
teach us in Christ Jesus your Son
the need for us to understand fully
and put into practice his teaching
"new wine is poured into
fresh wineskins" (Mk.2;22).
Enable us to always welcome change,
to find you coming to us in new
and often unexpected situations or
things and persons;
may we learn to bridge,
in fact become a bridge like Jesus,
the old and new,
the past and the present,
God and your people:
"In the days when he was in the Flesh,
he offered prayers and supplications
with loud cries and tears to the one
who was able to save him from death,
and he was heard because of his reverence.
Son though he was, he learned obedience
from what he suffered; and when he was made
perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation
for all who obey him" (Hebrews 5:7-9).

Dear Jesus,
teach me to have new perspectives,
new outlook in life in you,
by focusing more on you,
by believing in you,
in seeking and following you,
most of all, 
in seeing everything in you
so that I may learn to accept 
things of old
like pains and sufferings,
need for trials and difficulties
so that I may grow in
strength and maturity,
love and compassion
like you.
Amen.

Christmas is about accepting

The Lord Is My Chef Simbang Gabi Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Fourth Sunday in Advent, Third Simbang Gabi, 18 December 2022
Isaiah 7:10-14 ><]]]]'> Romans 1:1-7 ><]]]]'> Matthew 1:18-24
Photo from vaticannews.va, 14 December 2020.

We are now at the final stretch of our Advent Season, getting closer to Christmas Day with our gospel today directly telling us how it all happened. And it was not very easy – in fact so difficult – just like with most of us in our many experiences in life when everything did not go so well as planned.

It would not be surprising at all that so many times, many of us would have also thought of giving up, of letting go everything like St. Joseph!

Now this is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found with child through the holy Spirit. Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly.

Matthew 1:18-19

Christmas is a story of accepting difficulties in life especially persons dearest to us suddenly thrown into challenging situations. Exactly what happened to St. Joseph and Mama Mary.

Many times in life, we advise people going through problems to just simply accept how things are –“tanggapin na lang” – with some sense of resignation as if there is nothing we can do.

Sometimes it is true but many times, not at all true like with St. Joseph’s predicament. He accepted first Mary and then Jesus on a totally different manner worthy of our emulation. It was not out of resignation to the situation but was first of all focused in accepting and valuing persons.

St. Joseph decided to silently leave Mary because of his great love for her. He did not want to expose her to shame and public humiliation that would surely result in being pregnant with a child not his. He did not merely accept the situation as if it were his lot to be “scooped” out by somebody else faster than him with Mary. Keep in mind how the evangelist described St. Joseph as a righteous man, a holy man that despite Mary’s pregnancy, he loved and valued her so much, totally as a person. His leaving her silently was a testimony to his great love and respect for her!

We demand "understanding" in order to "accept" 
without realizing that it is different 
with persons and with life in general 
when we must first "accept" in order to "understand"!

Unlike with us these days when everything has to be explained and spelled out in details before anything or anyone may be accepted. In this age of instants, we want instant explanations too on everything before making any decision, demanding many information to understand anything.

And everyone.

We demand “understanding” in order to “accept” without realizing that it is different with persons and with life in general when we must first “accept” in order to “understand”!

That was exactly the accepting attitude of St. Joseph. He might have not totally understood everything when explained to him by the angel in a dream. Imagine how very difficult it must have been to listen to instructions and explanations in a dream that are already difficult to grasp when done in normal circumstances while awake. But that shows the great maturity and deep spirituality of St. Joseph, of how he accepted everything told to him by the angel in a dream that upon waking up, he absolutely obeyed God’s instruction by taking Mary as his wife.

Photo by Arch. Philip Santiago, Basilica of San Padre Pio, Italy, 2017.

One of my favorite singers is the late Marvin Gaye whose 1971 hit What’s Going On I have used extensively in lessons and recollections to young people. Its lyrics are so poetic yet so deep, with its first two stanzas calling for “loving” before it could lead to “understanding” at the third stanza after the chorus. It calls for acceptance first of everyone, of respect so we could love and understand more.

Picket lines and picket signs
Don’t punish me with brutality
Talk to me
So you can see
Oh, what’s going on (What’s going on)
What’s going on (What’s going on)
What’s going on (What’s going on)
What’s going on (What’s going on)

People can never be understood really. There are some people who are truly difficult to understand or as we say, “mahirap ispellengin”. Many times in life I have learned that we simply just have to accept everyone as unique, that God comes through everyone in each one’s uniqueness and peculiarities.

Situations become more difficult to accept unless we accept first the persons involved.

That begins with our very selves when we have to set aside our pride, our own good, even our own plans and agendas like St. Joseph in order to let God lead us truly to fulfillment.

Very often this is the problem with us when we insist on ourselves, on our own ideas and own plans. We get blinded with what we know and even with what we believe in like King Ahaz in the first reading.

Photo from Aleteia.org, “Let Mum Rest”, 2019

St. Joseph as an accepting person was also a very welcoming man like St. Paul in the second reading who took pride in being called and sent by God to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ. A truly accepting person is always a welcoming one, full of warmth and joy because he/she has Jesus!

See the beauty of St. Joseph’s acceptance of God’s plan: when he accepted Mary, that is when Jesus came.

Thus, we must first accept God.

If we truly accept God, we must accept others as his gifts to us. No matter what.

It is in accepting others with all their differences when Jesus Christ truly comes.

When we learn to accept and welcome people, that is when Christmas truly happens. Not only in December but all year through! Let us pray:

Lord Jesus Christ,
thank you for coming to us daily
not only in our very selves and the many
events that happen to us but most especially
among people you send us;
there are times they are good and so faithful
like St. Joseph who are easy to accept;
but there are also times, they are very
difficult to accept or even understand
especially when they happen to be those
closes to us whom we also love.
Teach us to appreciate the value of silence
like St. Joseph so we may be accepting like him
because it is in our accepting of people and difficult
situations in life when you often come.
Amen.

Being transformed in Christ

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday, Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, 14 September 2022
Number 21:4-9 ><}}}*> Philippians ><}}}*> John 3:13-17
Photo by Mr. Gelo Nicolas Carpio, January 2020.
With their patience worn out by the journey,
the people complained against God and Moses
(Numbers 21:4).
God our loving Father,
grant us patience and
perseverance in this journey
of life, to never complain against
you when things get difficult
and dark, or uncertain sometimes; 
open our minds and 
our hearts to find you,
to see you in Christ Jesus
who had come to accompany us
in this journey of life so we may be
transformed into better persons
who are more loving,
more kind, 
and more like you, 
our dear Father.
Teach us, dear God,
to imitate Jesus in emptying
ourselves in order to be filled
with your Spirit so that we may 
realize that the path to true
greatness, to exaltation is 
opposite the direction of the world
of adulations and affirmations,
ease and comforts  
but through the Cross to 
encounter Christ deep down
inside in all my weaknesses
and sins and vulnerabilities
because transformation happens
only from within. 

Teach us, dear God,
to imitate Jesus in emptying
ourselves to have a space for others
who are like us, weak and lost,
needing you and one another 
to rise as better persons by 
forming a community, of establishing
relationships that acknowledge you
truly as the Emmanuel, God-with-us;
how can we be raised up, O Lord, 
if we are all "up" in our false selves,
false relationships and false securities?
Jesus said to Nicodemus,
"No one has gone up to heaven
except the one who has come down 
from heaven, the Son of Man.
For God so loved the world
that he gave his only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him
might not perish but might have
eternal life" (John 3:13,16).
Empty us. dear Jesus,
of our pride and fill us
with your humility, justice
and love by joyfully 
taking our cross
and being one 
with you in your people.
Amen.

Friends in Jesus Christ

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday in the Fifth Week of Easter, 20 May 2022
Acts 15:22-31   ><]]]]'> + <'[[[[><   John 15:12-17
Photo by Mr. Gelo Nicolas Carpio, January 2020.
Jesus said to his disciples,
"I no longer call you slaves,
because a slave does not know 
what his master is doing.
I have called you friends,
because I have told you everything
I have heard from my Father"
(John 15:15).
Lord Jesus, thank you very much
for this great honor of being called
your friend, for this great status of
being your friend, of having known
everything you have heard from the Father,
that we are loved, we are forgiven,
that we are cared for.
How sad, dear Jesus, so many times
I have not been a friend to you by 
not believing your words, of refusing to
believe that I am loved by the Father,
that I am your friend.
There are times also, dear Jesus,
that I refuse to tell others how they
are cared for, how they are loved
and even looked up to; so unlike the
Apostles and presbyters who affirmed
Barnabas and Paul as co-workers with
the Lord, as his friends too when they 
wrote the believers in Antioch, "we have
with one accord decided to choose 
representatives and to send them along
with our beloved Barnabas and Paul,
who have dedicated their lives in the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Acts 15:25-26).
How lovely were the Apostles and
presbyters here in recognizing the
labors of love for you by Barnabas and
Paul!  Here they have shown their
intimate friendship in you, dear Jesus
and with Barnabas and Paul.
To be considered as your friend, Lord Jesus
means to consider others as my friends too,
especially fellow workers in your vineyard,
fellow shepherds of your sheep;
To be considered as your friend, Lord Jesus
means to recognize your friendship with
others not with me alone;
To be considered as your friend, Lord Jesus
means to tell everyone what you have told us
too about the goodness and dedication
of our fellow workers in you.
Teach me Jesus to truly love you
and to love like you, willing to forget
myself, to let go of all recognition and
honor because it is only when you are made
known and glorified that we truly experience
deep joy inside, when we have done your most
holy will.  Amen.

New commandment, new heaven, new earth

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Fifth Sunday in Easter-C, 15 May 2022
Acts 14:21-27 ><}}}}*> Revelation 21:1-5 ><}}}}*> John 13:31-33, 34-35
Photo by author, Bolinao, Pangasinan, 20 April 2022.

Our readings today speak a lot about being “new” – new followers of the new faith as Christianity spread during the first missionary journey of Paul and Barnabas, a vision of new heaven and new earth by John at the end of time, and a new commandment by Jesus Christ to his disciples that include us today.

What is so wonderful and so new in this “new” order of things in our readings is how they encompass the past, present, and future as expressed in the beautiful tension we all experience in life like Jesus Christ on the night before he was betrayed, after Judas had left their Last Supper.

Many times, we feel like being caught in a time warp when everything seems to be happening too fast that the past, present and future are in just one setting. It is like seeing one’s life in a flash.

“My children, I will be with you only a little while longer. I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

John 13:33, 34-35
Photo by author, Bolinao, Pangasinan, 20 April 2022.

Most often, we feel ambivalent with anything or anyone that is new like being excited but at the same time afraid because it is always something or someone we are not familiar with. It is generally what we feel when we move into new residences or new school or new jobs; when we meet new people like new superiors, new co-workers and new classmates.

But lately, we have found something new and different with our new set of leaders after the elections last Monday: of course, followers of the winners are happy and glad while those who have lost are more than sad, wondering what have happened, and still could not accept the new developments (or retrogression, depending on which side you are with).

Perhaps it is in this recent events that we feel our readings this Sunday very relevant and appropriate to us all, to always welcome whatever and whomever is new by seeing them in the light of Jesus Christ who is ever new with us each day.

For a proper understanding of Jesus and of our faith in him, we need to experience him in that tension of the here and not yet he beautifully expressed in saying “I will be with you only a little while longer”. Remember, Jesus declared these words shortly before his arrest; notice his composure and dignity. Unlike most of us, Jesus was never caught off guard by his impending death. In fact, “when the days for his being taken up were fulfilled, he resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem” (Lk.9:51) to face his death. As truly human, he was frightened but faced all his fears so that he was in total control with everything until he had given up his breath and spirit to the Father. That is why in this scene after he had washed their feet and Judas had left them, Jesus gathered his disciples in a “heart-to-heart” talk, calling them “my children”.

Problem with us when things or, as Pablo Coelho put it in one of his works, when the universe does not seem to conspire in our favor, we resist the change: we keep frozen in the past, spending the present thinking all possible scenarios in the future, forgetting that God is in the present as he calls himself as “I AM.” Focus on Jesus than on things around us so we may see beyond them.

Photo by Ms. Jing Rey Henderson in Taroytoy, Aklan, 30 April 2022.

First thing we recognize in the words of Jesus is what we have reflected last week in his being our Good Shepherd – his oneness with his flock, with us. There is that inner sense of belongingness of Christ in the Father, and of Christ in us. It is what that makes us embrace whatever or whomever new comes to us, regardless we like or do not like them because it is Jesus with whom we are one with first of all.

Jesus stayed only a little while with his disciples here on earth; now he is risen, Jesus is in the glory of the Father in heaven who shall come again at the end of time to establish the new heaven and new earth John was privileged to see in the second reading. It is in this tension between the here and not yet, of Jesus who had come and will come again and is come that we are challenged to witness his presence among us in love.

It is love that is truly the power the Risen Lord has and enabled him then and now to break all barriers in time and space to appear to his disciples and us to experience him today. It is a love so unique – so new unlike the “love” preached by other gurus. Christ’s love is rooted in oneness, in his being one with the Father, one in the Father. It is a love so divine yet human too because it is a love Jesus had shared with us as a gift, something we have, a love we must acknowledge for it to work in us by having that inner belongingness and oneness with him, in him and through him.

How?

Photo from gettyimages.com.

This we find in the preceding scene of the washing of the disciples’ feet: it is Jesus who cleanses us in the sacraments and in our daily encounter with him. When we allow Jesus to cleanse us daily, purifying us from all our sins and imperfections, that is when we enter into communion in him. It is only then that we are truly able to love like him – love without measure willing to offer one’s self, loving even those we consider as enemies.

This is perhaps what we need most these days following the elections. Suspend our biases and presumptions for a while and allow Jesus to work in us, to make us new.

Let us go back to Jesus Christ, allow ourselves to be cleansed by him anew so that we may enter into being-in him and being-with him like Paul and Barnabas who always acted in union with him, never on their own. Since then until now, we continue to experience this love of Christ expressed in our liturgy and most especially in the Church’s oneness and charity. It is a love we all have to recapture and continue for it a love always new because it is Jesus who works in us and through us even in the worst situations to transform every dismal picture we see to become new and wonderful.

Lord, let us come to you again
for we have been not clean;
wash our feet so that
we may listen to you
and do your work and mission;
help us to let go of our own agenda
no matter how lofty they may be
for the mission is yours, not ours;
most of all, let us come to you again
at your Cross to be able to truly love
like you, one in the Father and the Holy Spirit
found among our brothers and sisters
especially those not like us;
forgive us for our harsh words
and our lack of kindness with them;
it is only in loving like you 
can there be truly a new order in this world
that heralds a new heaven and 
a new earth.  Amen.

Have a blessed week ahead.

Photo by author, 2018.

Pang-intindi o pagiging kapwa?

Lawiswis ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. Lalog II, ika-21 ng Pebrero 2022
Mula sa Facebook post ni P. Marc Ocariza, Abril 2020.
Kay daming nangyayari 
palaging panawagan sa isa't-isa
ay pang-unawa at pang-intindi
ngunit hindi sasapat at laging kapos
ating kaisipan upang isang tao
ay lubusang makilala at maunawaan.
Kapag mayroong may-sakit
mayroong nagigipit
ano ba ang ating nasasambit?
Mag-usisa at magsalita
huwag lang walang masabi
sa akalang makapagpapabuti?
Kamakailan sa mga talakayan
mainit pinag-uusapan
respeto daw ang kailangan;
tama din naman
at nararapat lang
igalang bawat nilalang.
Ngunit paano na lang
kung sa ating pag-respeto
at pag-galang mayroong
ibang nalalapastangan
o nasasaktan at natatapakan,
sasapat ba itong panawagan?
Sa ating kasalukuyan, 
marahil higit nating kailangan
kilalaning kapwa-tao isa't-isa
na katulad ko, higit sa respeto,
pang-unawa at pang-intindi
mayakap at matanggap kay Kristo.
Larawan guhit ni P. Marc Ocariza, Abril 2020.