The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Tuesday, Week XI, Year II in Ordinary Time, 16 June 2020
1 Kings 21:17-29 <*(((>< <*(((>< ><)))*> ><)))*> Matthew 5:43-48
Photo from Google.
O God our heavenly Father, we come to you today begging for your mercy, for more enlightenment, for prudence and for self-control amid all the things going on in our land and elsewhere abroad while still under threats with this COVID-19 pandemic.
Every day we are beginning to see how ugly sin can be, often expressed in so many forms of injustice to one another; its ugliness can be seen in the “punishments” King Ahab shall suffer following the death of Naboth whose vineyard he had so desired to own.
Ahab said to Elijah, “Have you found me out, my enemy?” “Yes,” he answered. “Because you have given yourself up to doing evil in the Lord’s sight, I am bringing evil upon you: I will destroy you and will cut off every male in Ahab’s line, whether slave or freeman, in Israel. When one of Ahab’s line dies in the city, dogs will devour him; when one of them dies in the field, the birds of the sky will devour him.”
1 Kings 21:20-21, 24
Help us to turn away from sins, Lord, and cleanse our hearts and our hands of our many sins of dishonesty and insincerity, of lies and injustices, of pride and power tripping.
All these things happening to us today are largely due to our past sins that until now we refuse to admit and confess to you.
Give us the grace of honesty within, of confronting our true selves and admit our guilt, confess our sins to you to start anew like King Ahab towards the end that moved you, merciful God, to let go of your wrath in him.
May we find the wisdom and the immense beauty and power of your love as preached by Jesus to us in the gospel today.
Inspire us to be perfect, to be holy today just like you, our Father, is holy, perfect, and beautiful.
Holiness is not being sinless, Lord; fill us with your Self, O God so we may be strong enough to ward off sins and evil and be truly a reflection of your image and likeness in Christ Jesus. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday, Week XIX in Ordinary Time, Year II, 04 June 2020
2 Timothy 2:8-15 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> Mark 12:28-34
Photo by Mr. Raffy Tima of GMA-7 News, 02 June 2020
Remind people of these things and charge them before God to stop disputing about words. This serves no useful purpose since it harms those who listen.
2 Timothy 2:14
Dear God:
For today I just wanted to be silent before you in prayer.
But, you spoke a lot in that silence. Or, did I?
You know very well, Lord, how we have been silent since the start of this quarantine period due to COVID-19 pandemic. We bore everything in silence as much as possible, giving our government officials and lawmakers a chance to redeem themselves.
After all, we are in this mess because of their refusal to listen what others have been saying for the safety of the country, speaking of diplomacy and friendships among the originators of COVID-19, not knowing two of them have been infected with corona while here visiting. One eventually became the first fatality of COVID-19 outside China.
Photo by author, our altar decor with a snake on first week of Lent, 2020.
Those in government have always been doing all the talking that has always been non-sense and rubbish. They thought that the more words they used, the more things get clearer.
That is the problem, Lord: those in government like many of us your people are not aware that your silence always precedes your speaking; that your words are full of power, full of life, the fullness of meaning because every word comes from silence.
We humans, especially our elected officials, are all speaking out of noise and void, not from silence which is fullness.
We keep on talking in the hope and belief that the more we talk, the more our words become meaningful.
Lately, it is the opposite that is happening: the more our government officials speak, the more their words become empty while their tongues get sharper like swords, inflicting more pain and causing more shame.
They speak of lies after lies after lies hoping they become true if repeatedly said but the more they are lost.
They speak so tough, complete with warning against violators of quarantine rules but they are the ones who fall into their own pit, becoming like dogs eating what they have spit.
They speak of opening shops and offices, but they are closed to the plight of the commuters.
Worst and most unkind of all, they speak shamelessly of blaming the people for all their woes in this time of pandemic quarantine while they were busy silencing us the people, closing ABS-CBN and just this week, surreptitiously passing the anti-terror bill that silences all critics of this administration mired in profanities, lies, and insincerity.
They make so many laws, using so many words, and yet not a single word proved to be good like the scribe who asked Jesus:
“Which is the first of all the commandments?”
Mark 12:28
Photo by Mr. Raffy Tima of GMA-7 News, commuters at start of lockdown, March 2020.
Lord God of power and might, you are the only we have always count on for our protection and salvation.
You know what is in our hearts and you know very well what we are willing to do if you just say so.
For the sake of peace in our country, let our leaders eat their words or at least, keep their mouths shut to stop all their shows and start to listen, accept and love.
The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul, Memorial of Our Lady of Fatima, 13 May 2020
Acts of the Apostles 1:12-14 <*(((>< 000+000 ><)))*> Luke 1:39-47
Our Lady of Fatima procession at the Fatima Shrine in Portugal, 2017. Photo from vaticannews.va.
O God our Father, today we come to you on this most trying time in modern history at the heels of the COVID-19 pandemic that has disrupted our lives – for better and for worse – to ask for your mercy and healing.
As we celebrate the Memorial of Our Lady of Fatima who had appeared in Portugal 103 years ago today, we are reminded by the Blessed Mother of your Son Jesus Christ that true blessedness is not being wealthy and powerful, of being well and strong but above all of believing in you, our God Almighty.
When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb… Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.”
Luke 1:41-42, 45
COVID-19 has shown us that in this life, true blessedness is not found in money and things, nor in popularity and influence or other things that have become the benchmark of everything that is good in this life.
Our lady of Fatima Shrine in Fatima, Portugal. Photo from Pinterest.
In less than six months, the corona virus had shown us what the Lady of Fatima has always been telling us since 1917: to go back to you, God our Father through your Son Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist and Sacrament of Reconciliation.
Thank you in giving us all a Mother in the Blessed Virgin Mary who is the perfect image and model of discipleship in Christ:
-Mary was the first to believe in Jesus by receiving him in her womb;
-Mary was the first to share the Incarnate Word by visiting her cousin Elizabeth while six months pregnant with his precursor John;
– Mary was the first to believe in the saving work of Jesus when she interceded at a wedding in Cana;
Mary was the first to believe in the Resurrection that she remained standing at the foot of the Cross; and,
Mary was the first to believe in the coming of the Holy Spirit that she accompanied the Apostles praying at Jerusalem on Pentecost day.
Like Mary, may we grow deeper in our faith, believe more in you than believe in the world or with our very selves.
Like Mary, may we bring unity to our family and community, church and nation, so we may help strengthening the faith of one another, in believing in you by submitting ourselves to your holy will.
Teach us, Lord, to be simple and humble so we may believe more in you. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul, Tuesday, Easter Week-IV, 05 May 2020
Acts of the Apostles 11:19-26 +++0+++ John 10:22-30
Photo from Reddit
Our loving God and Father, as countless men and women are now searching for the cure and vaccine against this corona virus that have hit us, you have also given us opportunities to look inside ourselves to examine the things and persons we are searching for in this life.
Today’s first reading reminds us how Barnabas went to Antioch to see for himself the power and grace of the gospel of your Son Jesus Christ being preached there among the gentiles.
When he arrived and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced and encouraged them all to remain faithful to the Lord in firmness of heart, for he was a good man, filled with the Holy Spirit and faith. And a large number of people were added to the Lord.
Acts of the Apostles 11:23-24
Not only that: Barnabas also “went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he had found him he brought him to Antioch” (Acts 11:25).
What a remarkable attitude by Barnabas to search for the truth, to find the realities going on in Antioch!
Most of all, his efforts to look for Saul – a person feared and perhaps hated at that time – to bring him into the church in Antioch that eventually led to his baptism and adoption of the new name of Paul.
Give us, O Lord, the same desire for you! That we may always look for you in every situation we are into especially in this time of the corona. May we also look for those people we can bring closer to you through our communities, especially those suspected of so many things like St. Paul before.
How sad that sometimes, we are more like those in the gospel who kept on looking for you, Jesus, not because of a desire to really know you and follow you but to test you.
Give us a heart and the eyes of faith that truly search for what is true and good, that look for you in people and events because, like the deer that yearns for streams of water, our soul thirsts for you. Amen.
Thank you… and forgive us also, Lord Jesus, in this time of the corona virus.
Thank you in giving us the much needed time to be with you and with our loved ones in this time of quarantine. Thank you most of all, Lord, in giving us this chance to meet our true selves too.
The enhanced community quarantine has brought out the best in us, like with St. Stephen in the first reading who was filled with the Holy Spirit while being stoned to death by the people in proclaiming your gospel.
Thank you for the gifts of humility and courage to confront our true selves to see your true glory.
Forgive us also, Lord, because this same quarantine period has brought out the worst in us: every day in the news we see disturbing reports of people getting into all kinds of troubles displaying arrogance and pride that have wounded many bloated egos and, sadly even led to death.
We have been playing gods more than ever in this time of the corona virus, Lord Jesus.
Are we the ones also being referred to by St. Stephen in the first reading?
Stephen said to the people, the elders, and the scribes: “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always oppose the Holy Spirit; you are just like your ancestors.”
Acts of the Apostle 7:51
On the other hand, sometimes we act like the people of your time in Capernaum who, despite the many signs you have shown as being the Christ, we continue to doubt you, Lord Jesus, even daring you to do more than Moses and others!
The crowd said to Jesus: “What sign can you do, that we may see and believe in you? What can you do? Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, as it is written: He gave them bread from heaven to eat.”
John 6:30-31
Forgive us, Lord Jesus in playing gods when we neither see you among others nor in your very self because the sad truth, all we can see, that we choose and insist on seeing is only our very selves.
Open our eyes, dear Jesus. And if needed, humiliate us so we may be humble again to see you are our Lord and our God and nobody else before we end up inflicting more harm to one another than the corona virus . Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe, Wednesday, Easter Week-II, 22 April 2020
Acts of the Apostles 5:17-26 <*(((>< +++ 0 +++ ><)))*> John 3:16-21
Photo by Mr. Jim Marpa in Carigara Market, Leyte, 2019.
Lord Jesus Christ, everybody is talking about the “new normal” these days, of how the corona virus pandemic imposed on the whole world a paradigm shift in the way we live, the way we deal with others and even way of thinking.
It is funny, Lord, when as they speak of this “new normal”, it is actually a return to the old ways when we have more of love and kindness, more of compassion and empathy, more of persons than things, and most of all, more of you, O God, is it not?
But during the night, the angle of the Lord opened the doors of the prison, led them out (Peter and company), and said, “Go and take your place in the temple area, and tell the people everything about this life.”
Acts 5:19-20
And what is “this life” you have always insisted since then that we must all preach up to the present generation?
It is the sharing in God’s life through you, Jesus Christ our Lord who suffered and died for us in our sins so we may rise with you and in you to new life grace and holiness, fulfillment and meaning!
For God so loved the world that he gave us his only-begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.
John 3:16
This is the life you have always told us to preach but unfortunately we have always rejected and refused to accept because we have turned away from you, when we do not believe in you, when we would rather hide in the dark thinking we have the light that momentarily shines for us, but never for you.
Forgive us Lord in turning away from you, despite your many graces poured out on us like your angels opening our prisons to set us free from sin and bondage, from ignorance and darkness, from meaninglessness and lack of directions in life as we succumbed to the lures of the world.
Today as we battle the corona virus, help us to be more faithful to you, that we may represent you more even without using our lips, we may “tell the people everything about this life” of simplicity and humility, fidelity and charity, of sacrifice and love without expecting anything in return.
Most of all, with the many lessons of COVID-19, may we start telling the world anew of your love. Amen.
First Mass of the first priest from our Parish, Fr. RA Valmadrid, December 2019.
The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe, Tuesday, Easter Week-II, 21 April 2020
Acts of the Apostles 4:32-37 ><)))*> +++ 0 +++ <*(((>< John 3:7-15
Posted by Marivic Tribiana on her Facebook 18 April 2020 when a huge fire hit “Happyland” in Tondo district, Manila, leaving 450 families homeless with one fatality.
Artwork by Fr. Marc Ocariza using Digital Art Timelapse after seeing photo at left, claiming it was like seeing Jesus Christ carrying the old man as he contemplated the Divine Mercy that Saturday.
Glory and praise to you, O Lord Jesus Christ for coming to us, and continuing to come to us most especially amid this COVID-19 pandemic.
Increase our faith in you, awaken our being “born from above” in you in the Holy Spirit so that we may continue to find you and follow you in the ordinary things that happen to us.
It is not enough that we as a “community of believers be of one heart and mind, having everything in common” (Acts 4:32).
As a community united in you, Lord Jesus, keep us strong in fulfilling our mission from you.
Remind us always that we merely represent you in this mission.
We are not the ones who will change the world but you, O Lord.
Give us the grace to forget ourselves and carry our cross daily so we can follow you more closely every day.
Most of all, give us the courage to seek your ways and follow wherever your Holy Spirit leads us to so we can best serve you without ever thinking of our very selves or anything in return except that we are doing your most holy will. Amen.
The Facebook post by Marivic Tribiana that inspired Fr. Marc to make a digital representation of the scene amid the huge fire with thick, black smokes billowing above visible kilometers ahead in a city under an extended lockdown due to Covid-19.
He dubbed his artwork “Nag-aalab na Pag-Ibig” (Burning Love), an interplay between the raging fire in the area and the burning love of Jesus to the old man being carried.
That is why we need to be “born from above” to be able to understand teachings of Jesus about heavenly things on earth (Jn.3:12), remaining open to leading of the Holy Spirit to follow the Lord closely, not our selves, nor our plans, nor our personal agenda.
Lawiswis Ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Ika-14 ng Abril 2020
Nakapanlulumo kung iisipin
itong sinapit natin sa COVID-19
sa isang iglap, kaagad-agad
takbo ng ating buhay tila nasagad
tayo ay sumadsad sa kaabahan
na dati ni hindi sumagi sa ating isipan
na tayo ay walang puwedeng panghawakang
kapangyarihan na maaring ipagyabang.
Aanhin ang pera at kayamanan
wala ka namang mabili o mapuntahan
sarado ang lahat pati ang simbahan
lansangan walang laman
lahat natigilan, natauhan
sa katotohanan tayo ay tao lamang
sa mahabang panahon ay nahibang
sarili ay nalinlang sa maling katotohanan.
Kay gandang pagmasdan
nakakakilabot hanggang kaibuturan
pananabik ng mga tao masilayan
Panginoong Jesu-Kristo
sa Santisimo Sakramento at Santo Entierro
hanggang sa Señor Resuscitado
ng Pasko ng Pagkabuhay nang lahat kumaway
maging sundalo tinaas mga kamay sa pagpugay.
Suko kami sa inyo, Panginoon
tinalikuran ka namin noon:
ang pagkamakasarili sa amin ay lumamon
at sa nakakalasong ilusyon, kami naluom
kaya kami ay iyong hanguin sa pagkakabaon
ibangon upang muling makatugon
sa iyong tawag at hamon limutin ang sarili
pasanin ang Krus upang kasama mo kami makaahon.
The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe, Tuesday of Easter Octave, 14 April 2020
Acts 2:36-41 ><)))*> +++ <*(((>< John 20:11-18
Detail of Italian painter Giotto’s “Noli Me Tangere (Touch Me Not)” of the Risen Lord appearing to Mary Magdalene.
Lord Jesus Christ, you know very well how on this blessed season of Easter, so many of us are crying, weeping due to the threats and deaths brought about by corona virus worldwide.
Yes, it is the saddest Holy Week and Easter for many people in recent history.
But behind all these sadness, deep inside us, many have experienced your more meaningful presence and coming this Easter amid our tears of sadness, of weeping because this is also the time we have missed you so much, we have sought you so much.
How lovely, O dear Jesus, to contemplate the two occasions in the gospel today when Mary was asked why she was weeping.
Mary Magdalene stayed outside the tomb weeping. And as she wept, she bent over into the tomb and saw two angels in white sitting there… And they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said, “They have taken my Lord, and I don’t know where they laid him.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus there, but did not know it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” She thought it was the gardener and said to him, “Sir, if you carried him away, tell me where you laid him, and I will take him.”
John 20:11-15
We cry, we weep whenever we lost someone or something so precious and valuable like the people we love – or even hardly knew – due to COVID-19.
Give us the grace of tears and realization that in this life, the most beautiful reason we can have in weeping, in crying is that of losing you, dearest Jesus. It is the most beautiful reason for us to cry and weep at this time of the corona virus as it leads us back to you like Mary Magdalene!
Like the listeners of Peter on that Pentecost day, “cut us in our hearts” and may we be like Mary Magdalene desiring only you, searching for you, longing for you alone for in you is our fulfillment in life.
Let us not waste our tears on trivial things and most specially “toxic persons” to help us move forward in your new directions in life amid this pandemic of COVID-19.
At the same time, we pray today for those crying and weeping for varied reasons, too, that they may see you soon to experience comfort and assurance in you. Amen.
What have you been praying for since the start of this Holy Week amid the threat of COVID-19? Aside from being spared by this dreaded corona virus, what have you been praying for?
For almost a month, I have always been praying to God for one special thing: that we may all go back to our “normal lives” soon.
Since the first Sunday of our lockdown last March 22 that happened to be my 55th birthday, until after the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday, I have been going around our parish with the Blessed Sacrament and Santo Entierro on Good Friday mounted on a truck to bless the people.
And every time I would go around – with strict orders on the people to observe social distancing – I have strongly felt how they were so hungry and thirsty for Jesus, kneeling along the highway, some with lighted candles while others have their little altar in front of their homes.
Photo by Mr. Randy Cajanding, 09 April 2020.
Except for some few people, almost everyone would make the sign of the Cross, take a bow or raise their hands, asking for blessings, praying silently in their hearts.
I really wonder what they were praying for.
Photo by Ms. Ria De Vera, 22 March 2020.
Photo by Ms. Anne Ramos, 10 April 2020.
Me?
Next to the request that we may all be spared of the corona virus in our parish, I always prayed silently to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and in his Santo Entierro, to please, “bring us back to our previous normal lives Lord… I am will to sacrifice everything, to bear all these pains and hardships… just bring us back to our previous normal lives… magbalik lang kami sa dating normal naming buhay, Lord, lahat titiisin ko po.”
Photo by Ms. Anne Ramos, 10 April 2020.
Easter is moving forward to new life, never a going back
But early this Holy Saturday morning as I prayed, I realized God is not going to answer that special prayer of mine.
God will never bring back our previous normal lives before this time of the corona virus when we take control of everything because Easter is leaving the past behind, the old misconceptions, the old sins, the old ways of life far from God.
Easter is moving forward to Jesus, with Jesus, in Jesus.
Then the angel said to the women in reply, “Do not be afraid! I know that you are seeking Jesus the crucified. He is not here, for he has been raised just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him.”
Matthew 28:5-7
After this time of the corona virus in the year 2020, we shall never go back to our previous normal lives because Easter is a call to renewal, to going back to God, to going back to love and kindness.
Easter is going back to God, centering our lives anew in him because he is our life!
Entrance to our church during our Easter Vigil, 11 April 2020. Photo by Ms. Ria de Vera.
Jesus is inviting us on this Easter 2020 in the time of COVID-19 to come to him in his new life, to leave the previous normal lives when we spend Sundays on our own, when we just pray and celebrate Mass on special occasions or when we have problems or when going through calamities and disasters.
Jesus is inviting us on this Easter 2020 in the time of corona virus to come to him in his new life to renew our ties with our family and friends, to forgive and bridge gaps among us because life is too short, so fragile.
Jesus is inviting us on this Easter 2020 in the time of COVI9D-19 to come to him in his mercy and justice, to leave our previous lives when we take people for granted, especially those in the health sector like nurses or ordinary folks we call like janitors and garbage collectors.
Easter is rediscovering anew the more essential in lives like the value of each person, the value of health and education, the value of wisdom and sound judgement and decisions.
Jesus is demanding us on this Easter 2020 in the time of the corona virus to never go back to our “normal lives” of before when it was normal to be corrupt, to use foul language, to lie and malign others, to kill and disregard human life, to use violence and force.
Never again must we be silent when people and nature are taken for granted.
Jesus is inviting us on this Easter 2020 in the midst of COVID-19 to never go back to our old politics of trapos and vote buying, to rediscover how blessed is our country with great, talented people equally blessed with a country rich in natural resources ravaged by greedy politicians.
Jesus is inviting us on this Easter 2020 in the time of the corona virus to come to him in his new life by working for justice and truth, speaking against violence and disregard for lives, fighting corruption, rejecting the normal things of life of deception and lies in government, in the church, in school, and in our own families.
Photo by author, 02 April 2020.
If you have listened to our readings, from the story of the creation to the time of Abraham and Moses and then Jesus, people were blessed materially and spiritually because they never went back to old ways of lives but always moved forward in God, in selfless giving of self in service to others.
Without any doubt, Holy Week 2020 is the most unforgettable – even unbelievable we have ever had in our lifetime or even in recent history. And with the extension of the ECQ until the end of April, that makes our Holy Week 2020 as the longest one too!
But, it is not that bad at all.
Holy Week is “Mahal na Araw” in Filipino: mahal means valuable that is why it is the same word we use for expensive. Most of all, mahal is the root of pagmamahal or love because to love is to value another person.
Extended lockdown, extended Holy Week means longer “Mahal na Araw” — that is, more time to love God, others, and self.
So, it is still a blessed Easter to everyone!
Photo by Ms. Ria De Vera, Easter Vigil in our parish, 11 April 2020.
