Category: church

What is in a name?

The Lord Is My Chef Simbang Gabi Recipe, 17 December 2019

Genesis 49:2.8-10 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> Matthew 1:1-17

Parokya ng Banal na Mag-Anak, Violeta Village, Guiguinto, Bulacan. Photo by Arch. Philip Santiago.

Today we shift our focus in our Advent preparations to the first coming of Jesus Christ when he was born in Bethlehem more than 2000 years ago. Strictly speaking, the Christmas countdown officially starts only today especially with our very long but beautiful gospel from Matthew.

Maybe you are wondering what’s good with our gospel today when it is all about names that mostly sound very funny.

Importance of names: origin and mission

In ancient time, giving name to children was a very serious matter among peoples, especially the Jews.

For them, a name indicates two very important things about a person: one’s origin and mission in life, something parents of today have entirely forgotten, even ignorant because they are more concerned with fad and being unique in naming their children that always end up as a joke as it is always bizarre and weird.

And their poor kid suffers for the rest of his/her life like that man named “Fantastic”. All his life he felt so sad being called Fantastic that he told his wife when he dies, never put his name on his tombstone.

Eventually Mr. Fantastic died and the wife kept her promise not to put his name on his marker. But she felt the need to honor her beloved husband who was so good and honest that in lieu of his name, she asked a tribute written to honor him.

It said, “Here lies a very gentle and loving husband and father who never looked at other women except his wife.”

Every time passersby see and read that tribute, they would always exclaim “Fantastic!”

From Google.

Going back to the importance of giving names….

Corporations are more serious than parents in choosing names and trademarks to their products and services. Every trademark and brand always evokes deeper meanings than just being a product or entity that some of them have entered the vocabulary of many languages like Google, Xerox, and Frigidaire.

And the sad thing about this is how many babies are now being named to follow things and products than the other way around, giving more value to things than human beings!

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham became the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers.

Matthew 1:1-2
Detail of the ceiling of Parokya ng Banal na Mag-anak after the front or main door: the genealogy of Jesus Christ that starts with Abraham. Great concept by the Parish Priest, Fr. Ed Rodriguez. Photo by Arch. Philip Santiago.

Genealogy of Jesus as direction of Matthew’s Gospel

St. Matthew opens his gospel account with the genealogy of Jesus to settle right at the very start the question about the origin and mission of Jesus Christ.

Here we find the artistry and genius of St. Matthew, some 2000 years ahead of the late Stephen Covey’s third habit of highly effective people: “begin with an end in mind.”

By starting his genealogy with Abraham and David, St. Matthew gives us the whole gospel message in a glance because they are the two key figures in the beginning and realization of God’s promise to send Jesus Christ who would save us all.

Let us just focus on Abraham which means “he who is the father of many.”

It was to him that the story of God’s promise began after the dispersal of mankind following the collapse of the Tower of Babel.

From then on, Abraham points to what is ahead in God’s divine plan, not only for himself but also for the whole mankind for it is through him that blessings come to all. His journey from his birthplace of Ur into Canaan is symbolic of his journey from the present into the future, walking in faith following the Lord’s path and divine plan.

In Abraham we find God starting anew the history of mankind after the Fall that leads up to Jesus Christ who came to lead us all back into the Father.

With Abraham as the main header of Christ’s genealogy, we find not only the beginning but also the end of St. Matthew’s gospel which is the universality of God’s plan of salvation with Jesus telling his disciples to make disciples of all nations (Mt.28:19).

Detail of the ceiling near the sanctuary of Parokya ng Banal na Mag-Anak, the culmination of the genealogy of Jesus. Photo by Arch. Philip Santiago.

Imitating Abraham into our time

Last December 10 was a very important date for me and my parish: it was the ordination date of our first priest.

While waiting for the start of the Mass at the front door (which is actually the back of the Cathedral or any church), I just prayed in silence thinking about my role in the ordination of Fr. RA Valmadrid.

While I marveled at the beautiful renovations of our Cathedral, my sight was slowly moved towards the altar.

It was like an “Abraham experience” in Matthew’s genealogy for me: a wayfarer on a journey into the future, towards God, walking in faith.

In a quick glance, I kind of saw the future glory of every faithful coming to the altar to receive Jesus Christ in the sacraments especially the Holy Eucharist.

I just felt the beauty of entering the Cathedral, or any church which is more than stepping into a building but more of entering God himself, our point of origin and final destination.

Do we realize this tremendous blessing and grace of being baptized, of being a child of God, not only given with a name but most of all, of being counted into the family of God our Father?

In the first reading we have heard Jacob calling his 12 sons. What is so striking here is the blessing Jacob had bestowed upon Judah, instead of Joseph who was the best of all his sons, the holiest and most intelligent.

Like Abraham and Judah, or anyone in the genealogy of Jesus Christ, we can find our own selves too not as the vida or contravida but simply being called to be God’s instrument in fulfilling his plan in sending his Son Jesus Christ.

Truth is, God always comes in the most unexpected situations and peoples most of the time.

In Christ Jesus through our Baptism and faith, we find our genealogy – our origin and mission – as children of God.

If you want to get a feel of this reality, try reading aloud, very slowly, the genealogy of Jesus Christ. At the end, include your self, mention your name, your mother and father. Then close your eyes and let your life flash back in silence.

In the silence of your heart, do you find God coming more to you than you to God?

So amazing, is it not? We are all part of Christ’s genealogy. Let’s bring him forth into the world in our life of faithful witnessing like Abraham. Amen.

Malolos Cathedral. Photo by author.

We Remember

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul

Red Wednesday in Memory of Persecuted Christians, 27 November 2019

Revelation 15:1-4 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> Luke 21:12-19

From Google.

Today, O dear Jesus, we gather as one nation to remember the 300 million Christians worldwide who are persecuted in various forms because of their faith in you: those who were denied of work, housing, liberty, and most especially, life.

We remember and pray for our Christian brothers and sisters who were unjustly tortured and murdered because of carrying a cross and confessing their love for you, Jesus Christ.

Jesus said to the crowd: “You will be hated by all because of my name, but not a hair of your head will be destroyed. By your perseverance you will secure your lives.”

Luke 21:17-19

May those who have suffered and those still suffering be consoled with your love and peace, Lord.

Have mercy on their persecutors, let them realize that religion should bring us together and not apart.

Most especially, Lord Jesus, teach us to remember in carrying and embracing our crosses in the midst of these persecutions. Wash away our sins of indifference. Give us courage to follow promptings of your Holy Spirit in working for genuine peace and justice.

Empty ourselves of hatred and mistrust of one another to always remember we are all brothers and sisters in the Father. Amen.

Red Wednesday poster of Bacolod Diocese last year.

Breathe on me, Lord…

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul

Saturday, Feast of the Dedication of St. John Lateran Church, 09 November 2019

Ezekiel 47:1-2, 8-9, 12 ><)))*> 1 Corinthians 3:9-11, 16-17 ><)))*> John 2:13-22

“Praise be to Christ” says the floor of the Church of the Beatitudes, Galilee, Holy Land, 2019.

Our loving Father in heaven:

Thank you very much for the gift of church, especially beautiful and lovely churches where we encounter you in prayers and the sacraments.

How amazing that these churches “breathe” with their walls, “whispering” to you the many praises and thanksgiving of countless people who have encountered you there.

Whenever I come inside a church, I try to feel your presence as well as those other faithful including those who have gone home to you in heaven.

Indeed, we your “chosen people as living stones” are your buildings, your temple and dwelling place.

Whenever we enter a church, we also enter you, our God as you fill us with life like those fruitful trees saw by Ezekiel in the first reading growing on the banks of the river flowing from the temple.

Forgive us when we destroy our bodies and our communities, forgetting that we are your temple.

Forgive us when we refuse to celebrate the Sunday Mass with our fellow believers.

St. John Lateran Basilica, the Cathedral of the Pope as Bishop of Rome, our Mother Church. Photo by Arch. Philip Santiago, 2017.

As we celebrate today the Feast of the Dedication of the Mother of all churches, the Major Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome, remind us also to take care of our churches, to always maintain their sacredness, do away with all profanities and “shows” so many priests and lay people are now so fond of doing forgetting it is always your house, not ours.

Breathe into us your life-giving Spirit, Lord Jesus, for us to create a space within us and in our churches for you to come and renew us. Amen.

“Where” we pray

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul, Wk. XXX-C, 27 October 2019

Sirach 35:12-14. 16-18 ><}}}*> 2 Timothy 4:6-8. 16-18 ><}}}*> Luke 18:9-14

Photo by the author. Baguio City Cathedral, January 2019.

We have reflected last Sunday that prayer is an expression of our faith.

Where there is faith and prayer, there is always love.

And when we have prayer, faith and love, we have a relationship and community of two or three and more persons together as one, rooted in God.

Today we hear another parable by Jesus only St. Luke has, that of the Pharisee and the tax collector to show us another dimension of faith expressed in prayer.

Photo by the author at the Wall of Jerusalem, May 2017.

Like last week, St. Luke tells us anew the Lord’s purpose in narrating this parable:

Jesus addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else.

Luke 18:9

Were you moved or affected in any way upon hearing our parable today?

Did you feel a silent but swift, sharp thud inside your heart while your mind tried to reason out that the parable is not meant for you?

Listen again and pause, let the Lord’s words sink deeper into your heart:

“Two people went to the temple area to pray; one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector. The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself, ‘O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity — greedy, dishonest, adulterous —- or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.’ But the tax collector stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed, ‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner.’

Luke 18:10-13

If prayer creates a relationship, Jesus is teaching us today the right attitude we must have to keep this communion we have in faith and love. Any relationship is bound to fail, or would not even exist at all despite the formalities of having ties and links like what we see or even have in our various social circles where roles are just acted out.

We call it “plastic” or fake. Untrue!

Praying at the Garden of Gethsemane, May 2019.

Prayer to be efficacious like any relationship must always be true.

Here Jesus directs our attention in the “where” when we pray – not just the location or locus of our prayer but our “place” in that relationship first with God who is our very foundation.

When all we see is our self in prayer like in any relationship, there is always a problem. It is clearly a one way street, a monologue.

Worst of all, it is an indication of the absence of God or even others because the pray-er is so preoccupied with his or her very self!

The Pharisee was clearly not in God even if he were in front of the temple. His very self was very far from God and all he had was his bloated ego. He may be a very pious person but not really good at all for he has no space for God and for others. He is a very closed man without any room for others.

The tax collector, on the other hand, may be physically far outside the temple but was the one actually nearest to God with his self-acceptance and ownership of his sinfulness, of his need for God. He was closest to God because he was more open with God and with others by admitting his own sinfulness.

Again we find the key to tis Sunday’s parable towards the end:

(Jesus said) ‘I tell you, the latter (tax collector) went home justified, not the former; for whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.'”

Luke 18:14
Photo by Dra. Mai B. Dela Pena, Germany, 2016.

Prayer is more than entering a church or a prayer room, or finding our most suitable spot or space to pray.

Prayer is being one with God, of being suffused in God.

“Where” are we when we pray?

First, we become one with God, one in him in prayer when we first admit our sinfulness, when we confess our sins to him, and own them without any “ifs” and “buts”.

God always comes to those who truly open themselves to him by emptying themselves of their sins and inadequacies.

The tax collector was justified in his prayer more than the Pharisee because in confessing his sins, he admitted his need for God. He knew very well his place, so unlike the Pharisee who felt God owes him so much!

When Pope Francis granted his first media interview (to their Jesuit Magazine!), the first question asked of him was, “who is Jose Mario Bergoglio?”

The Holy Father quickly answered, “I am a sinner.”

No wonder when he was elected Pope on March 13, 2013 at the Vatican, he first asked for prayers from the huge crowd gathered before he bestowed his apostolic blessing to them. It clearly showed that despite his holding the highest post in the Church, he considers himself a sinner, so weak needing prayers from the people.

I always tell couples during weddings that when they have a quarrel, the first one to speak and make the move for reconciliation is the one with most love, the one who is most willing to bow to start anew.

Most often in life, friendships and relationships are kept when we are willing to take the lower stance, not necessarily admitting fault or guilt in any misunderstanding because being lowly indicates the person’s need for the other person and of one’s love to work on that relationship despite its fragility.

Ordination of deacons, Malolos Cathedral, 12 June 2019.

Second, we are in God and with God in prayer when we have that attitude and inner disposition of being poor and lowly. Being lowly or poor means having the conviction to leave everything behind and go down with God into the lowest point because one is so confident of the efficacy of prayer like what Ben Sirach tells us in the first reading.

Most of all, like Mary the Mother of Jesus during the Annunciation of the Christ’s birth.

The one who serves God willingly is heard; his petition reaches the heaven. The prayer of the lowly pierces the clouds; it does not rest till it reaches its goal.

And thirdly, we are in God in prayer when there is an offering daily of one’s self to God.

It is not enough to be lowly and sorry for our sins in prayer. It has to be sustained because prayer is also a discipline like any sport. In the second reading, St. Paul calls us to persevere and endure until the end for Jesus Christ.

We need to be passionate with our prayer life, willing to go to all extent to offer everything for the Lord, to fulfill his will “who shall award us with the crown of righteousness in heaven.”

We are all sinners forgiven and beloved by God.

May we find ourselves in God and with God always both in our sinfulness and lowliness. Amen.

Love: the great little way!

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul

Tuesday, Memorial of St. Therese of the Child Jesus, 01 October 2019

Zechariah 8:20-23 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> Luke 9:51-56

White roses for you, dearly beloved devotee of St. Therese of the Child Jesus. Christ heard your prayers and had asked St. Therese to send you these white roses as the sign you have been asking regarding what you have been praying for through our daily prayer blog, The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul. God bless you more today, my friend! (Photo by Ms. Jo Villafuerte at the Atok Blooms, Benguet, 01 September 2019.)

On behalf, O Lord, of the many people praying for a “little miracle” today through St. Therese of the Child Jesus, thank you very much for these beautiful white roses. And most especially for answering our prayers!

Thank you again for the gift of another saint today close to our modern time, a woman so young, and most of all, so simple in her faith and in her ways. Just like you, God, when she proclaimed…

“O Jesus, my love, at last I have found my calling: my call is love. Certainly I have found my proper place in the Church, and you gave me that very place, my God. In the heart of the Church, my mother, I will be love, and thus I will be all things, as my desire finds its direction.”

St. Therese of the Child Jesus, from the Liturgy of the Hours

It is this simple yet profound truth of being love, of doing everything in love that we always forget or take for granted that elevated St. Therese to be the youngest and one of the only five women Doctors of the Church.

In her life you have showed us the need to find the points of convergence of doctrine and experience, of teaching and practice in order to truly be holy and filled with God that fulfilled the Lord’s own words spoken among the crowds more than 2000 years ago:

“I thank you Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding, and revealed them to babes.”

Matthew 11:25
Born Marie-Francoise-Therese Martin at Alencon, France in 1873, St. Therese entered the Carmelite monastery of Lisieux at the age of 15 following a special permission from Church officials. She claimed no visions or extraordinary moments except that she followed a simple path to faith, especially after contracting TB that caused her death in 1897 at the young age of 24. Photo from Google.

Open our minds and our hearts, our very selves, Lord, like St. Therese to humbly embrace this simple truth of love by intensely and passionately living in love, doing ordinary things in the most extraordinary way of love. May we follow your Son Jesus as “he resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem”(Lk.9:51) to face his passion, death, and resurrection out of love for you and for us. Amen.

Hope for our difficult personality

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul

Monday, Memorial of St. Jerome, 30 September 2019

Zechariah 8:1-8 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> Luke 9:46-50

St. Jerome painting by El Greco portrayed as wearing the Cardinal’s robe to represent his highly esteemed works and contributions to the Church as one of the Four Western Fathers along with St. Augustine, St. Ambrose of Milan, and St. Gregory the Great. Photo from Google.

Praise and glory to you, God our loving Father! Thank you very much for giving us saints, men and women like us who were sinners with so many weaknesses but through your grace were able to lead holy lives.

Through your saints, you give us so much hope to be become better persons despite our many imperfections like our great Doctor of the Church, St. Jerome, the Father of Catholic biblical studies who immersed himself in the study and prayer of the Sacred Writings right in the Holy Land.

Considered as one of the great theologians of the Church, St. Jerome is said to be approachable but notorious for being a difficult person too due to his temper as well as sarcasm and being argumentative at times.

I confess, O God, that I am exactly the opposite of the kind of person Jesus Christ is telling us to be like – a child. Instead of being childlike, many times I have become childish, difficult to handle with my burst of temper and sometimes annoying sarcasm.

Like St. Jerome, fill me with your grace, with courage and willpower to conquer my irascibility and direct all my negative energies in pursuing you in prayers and good works.

Help me to follow St. Jerome in his call to “let us translate the words of the Scriptures into deeds.”

Fill me with your words, O Lord, cleanse me of my sins and iniquities so that your Holy Spirit may dwell in me, suffuse me with your holiness. Amen.

My favorite depiction of St. Jerome by Italian painter Antonello da Messina (c.1430-79), “St. Jerome in his Study.” Again, we see St. Jerome in red robe and hat like a Cardinal at his study desk with his faithful lion in the background which tradition says he had helped in the forest by removing a thorn in its paw. At the foreground are two birds: a peacock which is an ancient Christian symbol of eternal life that our saint meditated often (reason why he always has a skull in other paintings), and a partridge, a reference to St. Jerome’s notorious temper as the bird often represents jealous rage. Photo from Google.

Prayer for our co-workers in the Church

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul

Saturday, Memorial of St. Lorenzo Ruiz and Companions, 28 September 2019

Zechariah 2:5-9, 14-15 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> Luke 9:43-45

From Google.

Today, O God our loving Father, we praise and thank you for the gift of our first Filipino saint, San Lorenzo Ruiz along with his companions martyred in Japan on this day in 1637.

What a great blessing too, dear Father, that our first saint is a layman, someone we need these days to look up to and follow your universal call to holiness.

Bless our lay people who make up most of our faithful who are also our most essential co-workers in your vineyard, Lord.

We need them so much in this world that has become very secularized.

Restore their faith not only to you O God but also to us your priests, their priests and teachers and guides to you. May the lay people be faithful to your teachings through the Church they now question in the name of progress and liberalism.

Like San Lorenzo Ruiz, may the faithful trust again their priests and bishops despite the scandals that continue to rock our wounded Church.

What a beautiful sight to behold the martyrdom of San Lorenzo Ruiz with other fellow lay faithful and Dominican priests who all comprise the Body of Christ, the Church. In them were fulfilled your words to the prophet:

“People will live in Jerusalem as though in an open country, because of the multitude of men and beasts in her midst. But I will be for her an encircling wall of fire, says the Lord, and I will be the glory in her midst.”

Zechariah 2:8-9

May we all trust you, O Lord, especially in this time of varied forms of persecution against the Catholic Church here and abroad. May we have the courage of San Lorenzo Ruiz and companions to suffer with you, and to suffer for you. Amen.

Keeping the Faith

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul

Wednesday, Week XXIV, Year I, 18 September 2019

1 Timothy 3:14-16 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> Luke 7:31-35

Cross atop Dominican Hills overlooking Baguio City, January 2019.

Lord Jesus Christ, how I wish we have a very reassuring and powerful St. Paul by our side these days when your Church comes under attacks from the outside and even from the inside.

Beloved: I am writing you, although I hope to visit you soon. But if I should be delayed, you should know how to behave in the household of God, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of truth.

1 Timothy 3:14-15

How unfortunate that our leaders in the Church and other institutions seem to be so silent these days amid the ongoing attacks against your “household” by SOGIE Bill and the Divorce and Dissolution of Marriage Bill.

How unfortunate also is the growing indifference within your “household” with these raging issues today that we are like what you have described in the gospel:

“To what shall I compare the people of this generation? What are they like? They are like children who sit in the marketplace and call to one another, ‘We played the flute for you, but you did not dance. We sang a dirge , but you did not weep.”

Luke 7:31-32

Give us the strength and courage to stand for what is true in keeping our faith alive amid the rising tides of progressivism and modernity not only in the society but even within your household, Lord.

Let us follow more your voice, taking into our hearts the seriousness of these attacks on faith and morals that totally disregard your existence and plans. Amen.

We are God’s chosen people

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul

Monday, Week XXI, Year I, 26 August 2019

1 Thessalonians 1:1-5, 8-10 ><)))*> Matthew 23:13-22

From Google.

We are now at the final stretch of the month of August, Lord, and everybody is thinking of September already, counting the days until Christmas.

How sad, O Lord, that we are so focused with the dates and we miss the event of your coming to us, of your birth. No wonder we also miss your great gift of calling us unto you, of making us your new chosen people.

St. Paul reminds us today of how you have loved us, God, of how we were chosen and called in Christ Jesus to become his body, the Church.

How sad that these days, churches and houses of worship have become more of places to meet for lovers and friends than for people to gather as a community of disciples waiting for the Lord’s coming again.

How sad that like the scribes and Pharisees of the time of Jesus, we have also become hypocrites living in the darkness of sin and self-centeredness, believing more in our selves than in you.

Lead us out anew, Lord, from the many darkness that blind us and prevent us from living a life of faith in you and love among our brothers and sisters. Amen.

Prayer for us in having a new bishop

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul

Installation of the Fifth Bishop of Malolos, 21 August 2019

Judges 9:6-15 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> Matthew 20:1-16

Main Altar, Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, Malolos City. Photo by Lorenzo Atienza, June 2019.

On this joyous occasion of the installation of our fifth Bishop, the Most Rev. Dennis C. Villarojo, we praise and thank you O God for this wonderful gift of finally having a local Ordinary to lead us.

Thank you in hearing and granting our prayers for a new Bishop. And surely, you will be hearing and granting us all our prayers for him too!

But, lest we forget, I pray also to you, O God our Father, the prophetic request of a lay-woman you sent us during our clergy recollection last June: “Let us not corrupt our new bishop.”

It was the most shaking voice we have heard from you for a long time, Lord.

We were shocked, even jarred to our very core because it is so true.

It is a truth you have been telling us for so long not only in the Church but even in the society in general.

So often, we pin too much hopes and expectations, even demanding a lot from our leaders everywhere but we alway forget our important role of helping them fulfill their mission.

May we take into our hearts the parable of the trees by Gideon’s youngest son Jotham when your people were so eager of having their own king because the problem, O God, with corruption anywhere is not in the sinful ways being done by the corrupt but lies more on the corruptors who feel entitled that they must be given with special treatment by every leader they try to manipulate for their selfish ends.

Let us not be corruptors of any one like those in the gospel parable today of the first group of workers who looked so highly of themselves, expecting higher wages than the others and what was agreed upon, forgetting they are not the owner of the vineyard.

Bless our new Bishop and keep him strong in resisting the temptations and lure of fame and power and wealth in this so blessed vineyard of yours. Amen.

The Immaculate Conception, Patroness of our Diocese atop the Cathedral Bell Tower. Photo by Lorenzo Atienza, June 2019.