Category: apostle

The joy of Lent

40 Shades of Lent, Saturday after Ash Wednesday, 29 February 2020

Isaiah 58:9-14 +++ 0 +++ Luke 5:27-32

“The Calling of St. Matthew” by Caravaggio. From Google.

Dearest Jesus: I have been imagining in prayer of myself being Levi the tax collector sitting at his post.

It must be so lonely being like him, rich but deep inside longing for something deeper and meaningful than money and wealth.  He had been thinking of making a “lifestyle shift” but he felt hopeless with nobody to help him.

Like in the first reading, your invitation Lord through the Prophet Isaiah seem to be too good to be true that anyone like Levi – or me – could make a big difference in life by “giving food to someone hungrier, abandoning my own comfort to care for someone afflicted, substituting a kind word for a malicious gossip, and worshipping you than pursuing my own interests” (Is.58:10,13).

I felt like Levi – there in his little customs post – that is impossible because everything is hopeless and there is no chance to change.  Everything is doomed, especially for me, a sinner, Lord.

Then, suddenly you came, saying, “Follow me” (Lk.5:27).

How I love looking back, Lord, to those dark days when you suddenly came calling me to follow you!

It was so simple. 

Like Levi, I just stood and followed you and everything changed in my life! 

That was so nice of you, Lord Jesus, to take such a bold step of coming to Levi’s post to call him and, me.  It was – and still is – a gamble on your part to call us sinners to follow you. And since then, you have never stopped calling us sinners Lord Jesus to follow you, even on our darkest and lowest days and hours, Lord, when everything seemed to be so doomed.

As we prepare for the first Sunday of Lent, remind me, O Lord, that this holy season is not all that drab and dry.  After all, Lent originally means “springtime”, the coming joy of Easter which happens every time we turn our hearts to you like Levi.  Amen.

From Google.

Standing for Christ

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul

Saturday, Feast of the Chair of St. Peter, 22 February 2020

1 Peter 5:1-4 ><)))*> 0 <*(((>< Matthew 16:13-19

Chair of St. Peter at the altar of St. Peter’s in Rome. From Google.

Many of us today are wondering, O Lord, about our unusual celebration, the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter. Because deep inside to most of us, chairs and seating mean a lot, whether at the dining table, conference room, the church, or even the bus and other modes of transportation.

Chairs and seats connote position and power. You have noticed it so well when you were invited to a banquet when people scrambled for the best seating positions.

How funny, O Lord, that we try to fool ourselves many times choosing to take the last seats at the back to make it appear we are humble and simple, choosing to be away from the limelight when in fact, the more we insist on having some seats, regardless where it may be, the more we insist on our ego and self, on who we really are!

A sculpture of St. Peter by Edwin Layug near the main door of the Malolos Cathedral. Photo by Lorenzo Atienza.

Remove our masks, Lord. Stop our hypocrisies! Let us heed the words of your humble servant, your first Pope.

Beloved: I exhort the presbyters among you, as a fellow presbyter and witness to the sufferings of Christ and one who has a share in the glory to be revealed. Tend the flock of God in your midst, overseeing not by constraint but willingly, as God would have it, not for shameful profit but eagerly. Do not lord it over those assigned to you, but be examples to the flock.

1 Peter 5:1-3

Pray for us, dearest St. Peter, to see that chairs and seats are signs indeed of primacy – not of prestige or honor but of charity and service in our family and community.

Help us to keep in mind that what really matters for the Lord, in this life, in the church we belong, is not where we are seated but where we stand in him, “the Christ and the Son of the living God” (Mt.16:16). Amen.

In life and in death, one commission

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul

Thursday, Memorial of St. Pedro Bautista and companion priest-martyrs, Week 4, Year 2, 06 February 2020

1 Kings 2:1-4, 10-12 ><)))*> 0 <*(((>< Mark 6:7-13

Our merciful God and Father, on this memorial of your great priest-missionaries and martyrs – St. Pedro Bautista, St. Paul Miki and companions who have also worked in the Philippines – we pray today in a very special way for our dearly beloved mentor and brother priest, the Rev. Fr. Danny Bermudo.

We are not complaining, Lord, but year 2020 is a very tough year for many of us, right into January that continues to this month of February with many deaths and sickness, problems and trials not only in our own circles of family and friends but also in our country and the whole world in general.

We trust in you, O God, and can clearly see now in your readings especially that essentially, in life and in death, we are commissioned only to one thing — be faithful to you and your instructions, Lord.

While nearing his death, King David perfectly said it to his son and heir to the throne, Solomon:

“I am going the way of all flesh. Take courage and be a man. Keep the mandate of the Lord, your God, following his ways and observing his statutes, commands, ordinances, and decrees as they are written in the law of Moses, that you may succeed in whatever you do, wherever you turn…”

1 Kings 2:2-3

In a similar manner, at the start of his ministry, Jesus said the same thing while sending the Twelve two by two with authority over unclean spirits: leave everything behind in life and solely be focused on you, Lord, so we may fulfill your work and mission.

Photo by author, 2019.

Thank you, O God, for the gift of Fr. Danny who taught us in his classes and most especially in his personal way of being our seminary formator to always be faithful to you and your laws; to always be good and holy like you, our Heavenly Father.

In words and in deeds, in life and in death, Fr. Danny lived out his life totally for you, Lord, dying after fulfilling his mission and ministry of celebrating the Eucharist.

Bless Fr. Danny, O Lord, and may we carry on his lessons until our death like him. Amen.

Praying with St. Paul

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul

Saturday, Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, Apostle, 25 January 2020

Acts 22:3-16 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> Mark 16:15-18

Photo by Lorenzo Atienza, Malolos Cathedral, 29 June 2019.

Glory and praise to you, O Lord Jesus Christ!

Thank you Lord for not leaving us alone, for continuing to live with us, calling us and sending us to your mission in the Church, your blessed Body!

As we celebrate today the Feast of the Conversion of your great Apostle St. Paul, we do not merely recall this personal event of his in the past but most of all, we try to listen to you with him anew in our own time and situation.

Nothing much had changed, O Lord Jesus since that day in Damascus when St. Paul was on his way to persecute your early followers.

Many of us continue to persecute you because of lack of faith in you, of pride, and yes, because of wrong beliefs all premised in that great lie we have the truth, just like St. Paul who was called Saul then.

I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ I replied, ‘Who are you, sir?’ And he said to me, ‘I am Jesus the Nazorean whom you are persecuting.'”

Acts 22:7-8

It was the single event that converted St. Paul to become your most dynamic Apostle, Lord.

In that short instance, Lord, you remind us of how you personally call each one of us in our own name, no ifs nor buts, everything that is good and bad, even the worst in us.

Like St. Paul, we always hear your personal call but unlike him, we rarely have the courage to answer you, even enter into a dialogue with you just for a brief moment. We would rather stay on top of our horse, only to heed you when we have fallen and blinded by the world.

Likewise, Lord Jesus, in that brief encounter, you taught St. Paul and us today that basic reality of you identifying with the Church, your Body!

Every day, Lord, you continue to call us like St. Paul, asking us the same question, “why do you persecute me?”

O great St. Paul the Apostle, thank you for reminding us always in your letters how Jesus ceaselessly draws us into his Body the Church through the Holy Eucharist that for him is the center of Christian life where we experience Christ’s love in the most personal manner by giving himself for me.

Dearest St. Paul, pray for me that the love of Christ may always be my law and guide in life even to point of offering myself to him who had called me to a life of holiness. Amen.

St. Paul Basilica in Rome. Photo from Google.

Prayer to subdue one’s self

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul

Friday, Memorial of St. Francis de Sales, Doctor of the Church, 24 January 2020

1 Samuel 24:3-21 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> Mark 3:13-19

Photo by author, Malolos Cathedral, December 2019.

Blessed are you, O God our loving Father! Thank you for the gift of self, the gift of everything especially our temperament.

Many times it is our temperament that lead us to a lot of troubles as well as to holiness like in the story of David today, the appointment of 12 Apostles by Jesus in the gospel, and the life of St. Francis de Sales whose memorial we celebrate today.

Thank you, Lord, for making us all too complex that despite the four types of temperament – sanguine, phlegmatic, melancholy, and choleric – there is really no clear cut category for each one of us.

Thank you for making us that way to have enough room for you to work on us, to help us subdue ourselves to your will and be holy.

How wonderful was the attitude of David not to harm Saul while they were hiding inside the cave: he chose to be kind and even magnanimous by “cutting off an end of Saul’s mantle” to show his goodwill (1 Sm.24:5).

In doing so, he earned the respect of his enemy, Saul who declared, “And now, I know that you shall surely be king and that sovereignty over Israel shall come into your possession” (1Sm.24:21).

Our newly ordained priest kneeling at prayer on his first Mass, 11 December 2019.

In the gospel, your Son’s choice of the 12 Apostles are very revealing of your love and mercy to us: a mix of different people of different even extreme backgrounds and temperament but all given with the chance to be a part of Jesus Christ’s mission.

Last but not least, O God, the choleric and fiery temperament of St. Francis de Sales was a lifelong struggle for himself even in is old age but he never stopped subduing himself to serve you best by effecting the return of about 70,000 Protestants into Catholicism in Switzerland, not to mention the millions of souls touched until today by his 21,000 letters and writings as well as the 4,000 sermons he had left that still inspire people today.

Indeed, he who conquers and masters himself for you, O God, is the victorious of all! Amen.

St. Francis de Sales, pray for us!

The other side of Christmas

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul

Thursday, Feast of St. Stephen, First Martyr, 26 December 2019

Acts 6:8-10, 7:54-59 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> Matthew 10:17-22

From The Holy Orders of St. Stephen. Seated in blue is Saul who would alter become known as Paul; at the upper right corner is Jesus Christ appearing to our first martyr of the Church.

How blessed indeed is your birth and coming to us, Lord Jesus Christ! You became like us human so we can become like you, divine!

And now, a day after we celebrated your birthday with joy, you have deepened this joy in us by being one in you, one with you in your humility and love to offer one’s self totally like our first martyr in the Church, St. Stephen.

As they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”

Acts 7:59

You give us the spirit of love and courage, the spirit of truth and justice, the spirit of mercy and forgiveness, the spirit of self-surrender to be one with you, sweet Jesus.

Teach us to be like St. Stephen to be able to give back to you this same spirit from you as we continue to follow you amid so many forms of persecutions. Amen.

Prayer to take away our fears

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul

Monday, Dedication of the Basilicas of Sts. Peter and Paul, 18 November 2019

Acts of the Apostles 28:11-16, 30-31 ><)))*> Matthew 14:22-33

High Altar of St. Peter’s Basilica

My dearest Lord Jesus:

It is again the start of work and studies.

How I pity Monday!

It is perhaps the most hated day of the week primarily because of the many fears it brings upon us.

Inner and outer fears that lead us to doubt our selves, our talents and abilities, even people around us.

And worst, of doubting YOU.

There are times we are like the Apostles who could hardly see you coming to us in times of darkness and storms in life.

Though you keep on calling us, assuring us of your presence, to be not afraid, we still choose to be afraid that we sink deeper into sin and evil.

Immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and caught Peter, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”

Matthew 14:31

Hardly a day passes in our lives, Lord, without our experience of so many fears, doubts, apprehensions, and anxieties that drain us of so much energies to do more good things for you through others.

Some of us have long been held captive by this dark power of fear within and without that we hardly experience true freedom!

As we celebrate the dedication of the two Major Basilicas in honor of your two great Saints and Apostles, Peter and Paul, teach us to come home to your dwelling place of love and freedom, not of fear and doubts.

Teach us to be at home with you, to always find you even in the midst of darkness and giant waves of uncertainties. Amen.

St. Paul with a sword in front of the Basilica in his honor in Rome. From Google.