The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Thursday, Memorial of St. John of the Cross, Priest & Doctor of Church, 14 December 2023 Isaiah 41:13-20 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Matthew 11:11-15
Praise and glory to you, God our loving Father, for this wondrous day of Memorial of your great mystic and servant, St. John of the Cross; in his life and example attested by his great writings exuding with immense and intense love for you, he had shown us how true were the words of Jesus your Son:
Jesus said to the crowds: “Amen, I say to you, among those born of women there has been none greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the Kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”
Matthew 11:11
Yes, dear God, almighty yet so gracious and merciful, you have blessed us to be witnesses of your love and power in Christ Jesus; let us listen to your words always, let them sink into our hearts so we may feel and nurture and share your love to one another; like St. John of the Cross who, after going through so much trials and sufferings in life asked, "Who has ever seen people persuaded to love God by harshness?" How great indeed is your power of love that despite the losses and pains we go through in life, the more we love, the more we feel stronger, the more we feel blessed!
You alone, O Lord, is our help, our life, our strength despite our being "worm" and "maggot" like Israel (Isaiah 41:14); let us accept our littleness before you so Christ may come and dwell in us to fill us with your love so we may imitate St. John of the Cross who taught us, "Where there is no love, put love - and you will find love" because "A soul that walks in love is never tired and never gets tried." Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Tuesday, Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, 12 December 2023 Zechariah 2:14-17 ><}}}}*> + <*{{{{>< Luke 1:26-38
The original “tilma” of St. Juan Diego at the New Basilica of the Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mexico City. Photo by Rev. Fr. Gerry Pascual of Diocese of Iba, Zambales, 2016.
What a joy for us, to have you, O Most Blessed Virgin Mary as our Mother too courtesy of your Son our Lord Jesus Christ; you who was the first welcome and receive him, you never had the season of Advent itself for you were an Advent in yourself.
And your advent never stopped.
Sing and rejoice, O daughter Zion! See, I am coming to dwell among you, says the Lord. silence, all mankind, in the presence of the Lord! For he stirs forth from his holy dwelling.
Zechariah 2:14, 17
How quick were you to appear in the New World at that great period of discoveries, appearing in Mexico to Juan Diego to proclaim Christ's coming; and they realized and experienced so soon through you Christ's coming and reign!
You have never stopped in reminding us of the presence and coming of Jesus in our own time; teach us to be like you, O Blessed Virgin Mary of Guadalupe, always humble and simple, one with us, looking like us, walking with us in our own time and milieu, carrying Jesus, sharing Jesus, showing Jesus. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Monday in the Second Week of Advent, 11 December 2023 Isaiah 35:1-10 ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*> Luke 5:17-26
Photo by author, Advent Sunday II, 2021, Basic Education Department chapel of Our Lady of Fatima University, Valenzuela City.
Thank you, dear God, our loving Father for this Season of Advent, a season of our vindication in your Son Jesus Christ our Lord; what a joy to hear your words on this Monday of the Second Week in Advent through the Prophet Isaiah:
Strengthen the hands that are feeble, make firm the knees that are weak, say to those whose hearts are frightened: Be strong, fear not! Here is your God: he comes with vindication; with divine recompense he comes to save you.
Isaiah 35:3-4
Vindication, O God, is one word we miss so much these days, an experience we long for when finally we are proven right or true, and most of all, justified; it is a difficult mission from you, dear Father, to always walk in your ways, to follow your will especially in this world when being true and faithful, honest and kind, loving and caring are looked down upon as signs of weakness; it is so difficult to be good and holy, just like those men carrying that paralytic to enter the room to get near to Jesus Christ.
Teach us to persevere always, Lord Jesus like those men, to never give up on you, to always find ways even if we have to climb our way up just to go down to you to experience your healing and mercy. Most of all, your vindication. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Second Sunday in Advent, Cycle B, 10 December 2023 Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11 ><}}}*> 2 Peter 3:8-14 ><}}}*> Mark 1:1-8
Photo by author, the Forest Lodge, Camp John Hay, Baguio City, 12 July 2023.
It has been a week since we started our new liturgical year with the Season of Advent. And let’s admit that we have hardly noticed how fast time passes by these days with all the parties and gatherings we have been having since December started!
And that is the joy of patient waiting even in the dark during this time of active waiting for Jesus Christ’s Second Coming which is the first phase of this Season of Advent.
If we remain and persevere to be faithful in Jesus and his teachings, we realize that every day in life is always a new beginning in Christ to start anew in becoming a better disciple. We hardly notice the passing of time when we love and serve God in others because we experience that life is more of a series of beginnings than of endings as Mark reminds us at the start of his gospel account:
The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God.
Mark1:1
Photo by author, Malolos Cathedral Advent 2019.
Mark was the first to write a gospel account, composing it in Rome in the year 70 AD when the early Christians who were mostly of Jewish origins were under persecution. For his audience of Jewish origins, the word beginning meant a lot like the Book of Genesis, connoting how God is always present amid the persecution, of how order comes after chaos.
In simply declaring to us “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God”, Mark is reminding us how God is always starting a new creation, a new order, a new revelation in us and among us.
Very often, beginning connotes an ending; but, not with God nor with the gospel who is Jesus Christ. Remember how Mark’s gospel ended abruptly and unexpectedly in the discovery of the empty tomb by Mary Magdalene, Mary mother of James and Salome who all “fled… bewildered and trembling… in great fear that they said nothing to anyone” (Mk.16:1-8).
By “ending” his gospel account that way, Mark actually wanted his listeners that include us today to continue writing and proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ in our own lives. For Mark, the gospel never ends but simply begins over and over again through the lives of disciples who meet and befriend Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Photo by author, Advent 2018.
Now, to think of the beginning is to remember our origin or starting point, the person of Jesus Christ.
The late Fr. Henri Nouwen used to say that the word remember means “to make a member a part again”; hence, re-membering our beginning is making God in Jesus Christ a part of our lives again, of our present moment again.
More than just going back to the basics shouted by everyone these days even in the Church, remembering our beginning is bringing back the person of Jesus Christ in our lives today. That is what a new beginning means, a return to the person of Jesus Christ who is the essence of Christmas, of the Church, of the world.
Everything in life becomes clear when we begin in Jesus Christ. All these questions we have been asking inside, the many whys of life, will only be answered and clarified when we begin in Jesus. Many in the world would say it is very simplistic but, the problems of the world then and now are all due to the removal Jesus Christ from our hearts, homes, offices, and classrooms, and relationships. Begin again in Christ and see how everything, everyone becomes new and beautiful again!
Photo by author, Advent 2018.
Sometimes, Mark’s gospel is called the “Gospel of Beginnings” because of his frequent mention of Jesus “beginning” to do something like when “he began to teach” in many occasions in the synagogue and temple area (Mk. 4:1, 6:2 and 34, and 8:31) or when “he began to speak in parables” (Mk. 12:1); when Jesus came to Jerusalem and entered the temple, “he began to cleanse” it (Mk.11:15) while at the agony in the garden, “he began to be troubled” (Mk. 14:33).
All these indicate how our ministries began in Jesus Christ and nowhere do we find Mark telling us Jesus had ended them all. In fact, in the longer ending of his gospel that was later on added by his followers, we find Jesus telling his disciples that include us today to continue with his works and mission. Every mission we have in life especially in the Church must always begin in Jesus Christ.
After all, when we reflect on Mark’s brief opening sentence to his gospel account that associated the word beginning with the Lord’s name Jesus Christ, we find him telling us that same truth that everything created began in Jesus Christ as expounded by John at his prologue (Jn. 1:1-5) and Paul in his letter to the Colossians 1:15-20.
Examine how John and Paul beautifully expressed in poetry their theology simply expressed by Mark as “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God”.
Here we find that even if Mark’s gospel is the shortest of the four gospel accounts, “brevity is the soul of wit” (Shakespeare in Hamlet). And that is the short of all these things we believe in and hold so dearly in our faith: Jesus Christ as the beginning and the origin of everything.
There lies the challenge to us these days when people no longer remember, and even willing to forget God and Jesus Christ: of how like Mark we can always begin each day, our work and ministries, our missions and everything in Jesus Christ. In the first reading, God calls us through the Prophet Isaiah to comfort his people, especially those sick and weary, those losing hope in life that until now happens. Perhaps because what we keep on offering others are not really the essential one, Jesus Christ, our beginning.
It is a brand new week again as we get closer to Christmas and most especially to Parousia. The problems and darkness remain in our lives. The words of Peter in the second reading today are scary when God “dissolves” everything at the Parousia; however, it is a call for us believers to witness the hope in Christ’s coming not by our words and beliefs but by our witnessing to Jesus Christ, by the holiness of our lives that begin in Jesus Christ. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Thursday in the First Week of Advent, Memorial of St. Ambrose, 07 December 2023 Isaiah 26:1-6 ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> Matthew 7:21, 24-27
Photo by author, San Fernando, Pampanga, November 2021.
Unlike Lent, this Season of Advent is always superseded by too much ado and noise of commercialism as Christmas approaches; there is hardly a hint not even among us in the church of the need to be silent, of the value of silence, and essence of silence in life no matter what is the season.
Although our first reading evokes in us a great feeling of joyful celebrations following the salvation of people, there is still the underlying tone of silence in you and with you, dear God our loving Father, of silent witnessing to your justice and righteousness.
How lovely that today we also celebrate the Memorial of St. Ambrose, a great bishop and Doctor of the Church whom St. Augustine deeply admired and converted him to Christianity; may we appreciate like St. Augustine the silence of St. Ambrose:
When [Ambrose] read, his eyes scanned the page and his heart sought out the meaning, but his voice was silent and his tongue was still. Anyone could approach him freely and guests were not commonly announced, so that often, when we came to visit him, we found him reading like this in silence, for he never read aloud.
Confessions of St. Augustine
At that time, knowledgeable and learned people read aloud for everyone to be aware of their presence but not St. Ambrose who deeply moved St. Augustine to notice it in his Confessions.
This Advent, teach us O Lord to cultivate the discipline and virtue of silence, especially in doing what is good, in witnessing Jesus Christ who warned us, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven" (Matthew 7:21).
May our deeds speak louder than our words and beliefs. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Wednesday in the First Week of Advent, 06 December 2023 Isaiah 25:6-10 ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*> Matthew 15:29-37
Photo by author, St. Scholastica Retreat House, Baguio City, 23 August 2023.
God our loving Father, may we go back to you our very life; forgive us who have easily forgotten you especially after these difficult years of the pandemic; now that COVID has waned and life is back to "normal", we are back to our unholy ways.
May we always search you, Father, and dwell in you; destroy the “veil that veils all peoples, the web that is woven over all nations” (Is.25:7) that mislead and imprison us with false hopes in superficial relationships and materialistic briberies of this world.
Let us go "hungry and thirsty" to realize the most essential in life are you, dear God and the people who truly care for us and love us like our family and friends.
Like the crowd who have followed Jesus in the wilderness for three days with nothing to eat: they experienced advent, your coming, O God, when Jesus fed them after they were finally disposed to desire the longings of their soul than of their bodies; it was only then when Jesus fed them through the miraculous multiplication of the loaves of bread for the second time.
May the darkness and gloom that envelop us this season of Advent like the wars in Gaza and Ukraine and other military show of force by other nations and groups elsewhere, the barbaric terror attack last Sunday in Marawi and the frequent earthquakes we have been experiencing along with our other personal crises dispose us to desiring you alone, God our Father, so we may finally enter your heavenly banquet in the Holy Eucharist with “rich food and choice wines” (Is.25:6). Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Monday in the First Week of Advent, 04 December 2023 Isaiah 2:1-5 ><}}}}*> + ><}}}}*> + ><}}}}*> Matthew 8:5-11
Photo by author, Basic Education Department, Our Lady of Fatima University, Valenzuela City, 27 November 2023.
Advent is walking in your light, O Lord, when we brave life's many darkness that envelop us, when we trust more in you, O Lord, and dare to follow your will even if it goes against conventional wisdom.
How sad, dear God, that as we reel from the effects of the recent pandemic, we begin our Christmas countdown still in the midst of a grave war right in the Holy Land; help us find ways to fulfill Isaiah's prophecy: "In the days to come, the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established as the highest mountain and raised above the hills. They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; one nation shall not raise the sword against another, shall they train for war again. O house of jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord! (Isaiah 2:2, 4-5)
To walk in your light, O Lord, especially this Advent is to first of all admit how we have gone astray from your path, O Lord; of how we have relied more on ourselves and technologies that we have forgotten not only you O Lord but also one another; to walk in your light O Lord is to be in touch with our fellow humans, to find you present in each one of us despite our many differences like that centurion who approached you, Jesus, to heal his sick servant; this Advent season as we walk the streets with cool winds blowing and sun rays touching our skins, may we have time to go to your house, O Lord, to pray, to listen to your words, to simply be present before you and allow you to take us where you want us to be. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II First Sunday in the Season of Advent, Cycle B, 03 December 2023 Isaiah 63:16-17, 19; 64:2-7 ><}}}*> 1 Corinthians 1:3-9 ><}}}*> Mark 13:33-37
Photo by author, National Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima, 08 December 2022.
I was literally waiting the “advent” or coming of my doctors last Thursday as I wrote this homily for this first Sunday of Advent, the new year in our Church calendar. It was a hazy morning with some drizzle when I arrived for my doctors’ appointments.
But, it was a graceful moment too as I rediscovered the virtue of patience by being a patient myself again.
Sick people are called patients precisely because healing requires a lot of patience. Tons of patience in fact, especially if we are incapacitated or too weak to move. And the most difficult part of patience is waiting, from the simple waiting for doctors and nurses, waiting for the end of the day to waiting for our complete healing until we are well again.
Photo by author, First Sunday of Advent 2021, Basic Education Department, Our Lady of Fatima University, Valenzuela City.
The difficult part of waiting is that we are so conscious of time which we find to be flowing so slowly, making us irritable even doubtful if ever the one we are awaiting would ever come or materialize at all. That is why patience has become a virtue so rare these days.
Many people reject, even abhor patience in this age of instants when everybody wants to bear fruit but resent how it takes time to ripen. We want to have everything now na! We do not want to wait because we are no longer contented with whatever comes to us so that we advance our salaries and buy things in credit cards. Worst is this notorious practice of advancing public holidays to other dates closest to weekends to have “long weekend” celebrations. Even Christmas is not spared from our impatience! See how malls and local government buildings, homes and radio stations could not wait after the Halloween with all the lighting of Christmas trees and decors everywhere.
Unknown to us, we are robbing ourselves of very essence of the event of Christ’s coming to us when we manipulate time and its natural flow. When we lose patience, we stop waiting, then we miss the essence of life, of persons, of everything because we think waiting is being empty.
That is not true! Waiting is never empty. On the contrary, waiting is actually fullness because the very fact that we wait means we have.
Photo by author, lanterns for sale in San Fernando, Pampanga, November 2020.
When we were growing up, we loved waiting for dad’s coming home from work. We were filled with joy the moment we heard jeepneys stopping, hoping it was dad. Even if he would come home later in the evening when it was dark, we always felt so sure and excited of his arrival with pasalubong because he was always in our hearts.
That is the greatest joy of patient waiting – it is fullness of love due to our relationships. People who can’t wait, who are impatient are often loners, even complainers because they always feel empty within without any regard at all for relationships. Most likely, they have no relationships at all!
Photo by author, lanterns for sale in San Fernando, Pampanga, November 2020.
The first reading reminds us of this great beauty of patient waiting, of already having God himself within us with Isaiah calling God “our father, our redeemer” that both indicate kinship and relationships with him.
You, Lord, are our father, our redeemer you are named forever.
Isaiah 63:16
Very notable is the word “redeemer” that is go’el in the Hebrew language – the family relative who pays off debts or redeems a foreclosed property so that their family or tribe could keep it.
That is exactly what Jesus came for – to redeem us, to ransom us from our debt we could not repay God which is love. By dying on the Cross, Jesus saved us, redeemed us from the clutches of death and evil to be filled with life again. And that is why he is coming again to ultimately vanish all evil and sin to bring us to new heaven and new earth.
Physically we do not see Jesus but realistically, spiritually, we are certain he is with us, within us. Therefore, our waiting for him is never empty but always full of Jesus precisely due to the relationship we have in him and with him.
Photo by author, Advent 2019 in our former parish.
Waiting for Jesus is an expression of our faith. And we wait with him, just like the apostles in the agony of the garden. Notice how Mark narrated to us this calls for being watchful by Jesus; unlike Matthew, Mark mentions the time of Christ’s coming – at night.
Jesus said to his disciples: “Be watchful! Be alert! You do not know when the time will come… whether in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the morning. May he not come suddenly and find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to all: ‘Watch!'”
Mark 13:33, 35-37
This may be a minute detail for us but not for Mark who was the first to write the gospel of Jesus which happens to be the shortest and most concise. Night time in the Bible evokes darkness when evil seems to dominate the time which we continue to think of in the present.
But, we are children of light as St. Paul reminds us in one of his letters. And this Sunday he assures us in the second reading that “God is faithful” who “called us to fellowship” in him through Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 1:9). Let us not be afraid of the dark and long waiting for Jesus because he had conquered it when he walked on water, when he stilled the storm in the sea, when he rose again on Easter. Do not forget too that Jesus was born during the darkest night of the year, a reminder and assurance to us that no matter how dark our lives may be, Jesus is near, Jesus is here. So, have no fear in him, our brother and kin who had saved us!
Photo by author, Advent 2019 in our former parish.
Watch and be on guard on Christ’s coming and presence in darkness because too often, we are the ones who miss the Lord. Keep in mind that it is at night, it is in darkness when it is best to believe in the light. Here, we again find that waiting even in darkness in never empty because that is when we are so sure there would be great light bursting forth soon as Isaiah had prophesied that was eventually fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Sometimes, we get bored even impatient or sleepy waiting for Jesus like the five wise virgins who brought extra oil waiting for the groom to arrive. The key is to remain in Jesus, only Jesus, always Jesus as we pray like John the Beloved, Maranatha, “Come, Lord Jesus!” Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Simbang Gabi Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Saturday in the Fourth Week of Advent, Ninth Day of the Christmas Novena, 24 December 2022
2 Samuel 7:1-5, 8-12, 14, 16 ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> Luke 1:67-79
Thank you Lord Jesus Christ
for this Season of Advent,
for your words and presence
these past nine days of
Simbang Gabi.
Like King David in the first reading
and Zechariah in the gospel,
now I have seen clearly your light -
"In the tender compassion of our God
the dawn from on high shall break upon us,
to shine on those who dwell in darkness
and shadow of death,
and to guide our feet into the way of peace"
(Luke 1:78-79).
Help me see your light, Jesus;
let me distinguish the true light
that shines on the face of every person
I meet and serve, especially the weak
and lowly and forgotten;
let me be wary of lights I see only on my face
like King David that no matter how noble are
my plans, it is your light, O Lord, that I must follow
for your light leads to love and kindness,
mercy and compassion, acceptance and forgiveness;
let me search and follow only your light
that makes me accept and embrace and own my past,
especially if it is painful and hurtful
so I may see also the brighter future
you are leading me to.
Most of all, dear Jesus,
like John, fill me with your light
to lead people to you
not to me;
I do not ask your light to make me see
the distance scene but just enough to make
me step closer to you each day
especially when darkness of sin and evil abound.
Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Simbang Gabi Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday in the Fourth Week of Advent, Eighth Day of Christmas Novena, 23 December 2022
Malachi 3:1-4, 23-24 ><000'> + ><000'> + ><000'> Luke 1:57-66
We are now in the penultimate day to Christmas and Luke is getting more dramatic in his narration of the events leading to the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. The scene is still in Judea, the house of Zechariah when Elizabeth finally gave birth to John the Baptist, the Lord’s precursor.
Everyone rejoiced and something so wonderful happened during the child’s circumcision when he was named.
When the time arrived for Elizabeth to have her child she gave birth to a son. Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy toward her and they rejoiced with her. When they came on the eighth day to circumcise the child, they were going to call him Zechariah after his father, but his mother said in reply, “No. He will be called John.”
Luke 1:57-60
I love that part when Elizabeth suddenly spoke to her relatives and neighbors on the name to be given to her son, but his mother said in reply, “No. He will be called John.”
Beautiful! Another example of Luke’s artistry.
Recall that when Elizabeth was put into the scene by Luke last Monday after the annunciation of John’s birth to his father Zechariah, she was portrayed as soft and somewhat passive. In fact, after conceiving John, Luke tells us Elizabeth went into seclusion for five months to reflect on God’s wondrous deed to her, not to mention the “embarrassment” of an 80-year old woman getting pregnant. That was when Mary visited her.
Elizabeth was all praises to her younger cousin Mary and of course, to God. At the Visitation, we got a picture of Elizabeth as a kind and genteel woman until today when she suddenly roared like a lioness, standing her ground to protect her child! From being passive, Elizabeth is now portrayed as a very active person, a woman in the fullest sense, standing her ground on what she firmly believes and thinks best for her and her child when she adamantly declared to everyone “No. He will be called John.”
One of the things my mother had told me is learning to say NO especially if it has something do with sin and evil, something very bad, including expensive things. Later in life I realized the great value she had instilled in me of knowing to say NO, even of standing by it.
Many times in our modern time, we just go on with the flow, approving without even thinking whatever the world tells us as seen in many commercials and logo like “Just do it!” and “Obey your thirst”. It is what Pope emeritus Benedict XVI called as “dictatorship of relativism” – no more absolutes like God, almost everything is allowed from morals to fashion that many have lost any sense of truth and good, of beauty and decency and propriety.
Elizabeth showed us in the naming of her son something very vital in Christ’s coming: she herself was the finest example and model for John the Baptist in his mission of preparing the way of the Lord, of cleansing the world of its sins and excesses that nobody seemed to fight anymore. In the first reading, Malachi prophesied how the precursor would be like a “refiner’s fire, or like the fuller’s lye” (Mal.3:2) cleansing the people, preparing their hearts to receive Jesus Christ.
Any cleansing or conversion or repentance begins first with a decisive NO to sin and evil, to useless traditions and beliefs that forget God and his people.
See how Luke brought out this strong character of Elizabeth perfectly in the timing of the circumcision and naming of her child – right at the moment of the “cutting” of the foreskin, Elizabeth intervened and insisted on God’s plan that was contrary to everyone’s thought and belief. It was Elizabeth who “cut off” or broke off John and her self from the traditions and old rituals of the people at that time. She was a trailblazer in fact, a trait John must have acquired from her from the very start of his life.
Most beautiful scene here is when Elizabeth stood her ground to the point that her relatives and neighbors protested to her naming her child John. She really meant her NO despite their protests that they asked Zechariah to write on a tablet the child’s name.
And everyone was amazed, even shocked, when Zechariah who was deaf-mute at that time, affirmed that “John is his name” (Lk.1:63), affirming Elizabeth’s choice of name.
Immediately his mouth was opened, his tongue freed, and he spoke blessing God. Then fear came upon all their neighbors, and all these matters were discussed throughout the hill country of Judea. All who heard these things took them to their heart, saying, “What, then, will this child be?” For surely the hand of the Lord was with him.
Luke 1:64-66
Imagine how those things happened simply because Elizabeth said “NO”.
John eventually would offer his life for saying NO to Herod’s taking of his brother’s wife, Herodias.
Lastly, our Lord Jesus Christ suffered and died on the Cross for saying NO too to the ways of the world, to sin and to evil. In a sense, he came to teach us to say NO to the world so that we may experience his love and mercy, freedom and peace and prosperity. Let us pray:
Lord Jesus Christ,
as your birthday fast approaches,
give me the courage to say NO like
Elizabeth, the mother of your precursor,
John the Baptist;
teach me to say NO to traditions and rituals
without meaning, full of pomp and pageantry,
most especially of our very selves and ego,
empty of meaning, and worst, disregard you
who are among the poor and suffering;
let us say NO to death and injustice;
NO to reducing life into mere lifestyle,
NO to divorce,
NO to abortion,
NO to same sex union,
NO to deviation from you,
our Lord and God.
Amen.
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