Blessedness of mourning

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 01 November 2025
Saturday, Solemnity of All Saints
Revelation 7:2-4, 9-24 ><]]]'> 1 John 3:1-3 ><]]]'> Matthew 5:1-12

Thousands of people arrive to pray at the graves of their relatives at a cemetery during the annual observance of All Saint’s Day in Manila on November 1, 2019. Millions of Filipinos flocked to cemeteries to visit and pray at the graves of their loved ones to mark the holiday. Photo by *Ted Aljibe, AFP.*

Many are amused even some of us Filipinos why all roads lead to cemeteries during this time of the year to celebrate the Solemnity of All Saints when remembering our departed loved ones actually falls on the following day, November 2.

There’s nothing wrong with this tradition except that people forget celebrating Mass on All Saints’ Day which is the essence of the feast ranked as a Solemnity, the highest in our liturgy. Offer a Mass first for your departed loved ones on November 1 before going to the cemetery!

More than the close connections of All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day in its theology and tradition, our celebration of these two feasts collectively referred to as Undas is the classic tension of our experiences of heaven on earth, of the here and not yet, of the mixture of joy and sadness within us when we remember our dead best expressed in our grief and mourning.

When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him. He began to teach them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted” (Matthew 5:1-4).

In a world that thrives and promotes so much fun and merry-making, our second beatitude is difficult to understand or even grasp in this time of faith in a mass-mediated culture.

What is “blessed” with grieving and mourning or crying when you have lost a loved one, like a parent or a child or a friend?

Pope Benedict XVI explained in his book “Jesus of Nazareth” there are two kinds of mourning that the gospels offer us exemplified by the two most extreme of the Apostles, Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus and, Simon Peter who denied the Lord thrice (pp.86-89).

*Photo by author, Church of St. Anne, Jerusalem, Israel, May 2017.*

This first kind of mourning as shown by Judas Iscariot is when one has lost hope, succumbing to the miseries of losing a beloved and becomes mistrustful of love that leads to self-destruction. It is the worst kind of mourning that eats away and destroys man within just like Judas Iscariot who hanged himself (see Matt. 27:3-5).

The second kind of mourning according to Pope Benedict XVI that Jesus must be referring to as “blessed” in his Beatitudes which leads to salvation is when the mourning is caused by an encounter with the truth that leads to conversion like what happened to Simon Peter when he was struck by the gaze of Jesus that he burst into healing tears and cleansed his soul to enable him to begin anew in his life in the Lord (see Lk.22:60-61,62).

This will have its lovely conclusion eight days after Easter before Jesus ascended into heaven when he asked Simon Peter thrice, “Do you love me?” (Jn.21:15ff.) to remind him of that episode that eventually pushed him to follow Christ unreservedly “by taking care of his sheep”. Guided by these thoughts of Pope Benedict XVI, let us see reflect the blessedness of weeping…

*Photo by Juan Pablo Serrano on Pexels.com*

Blessed are those who weep because that means they have love in their hearts. Deaths and bad news that befall our loved ones sadden us, even jolt us with deep pain that move us to console them, to suffer with them, and to be one with them by reconnecting with them and their loved ones like when we go to a funeral or a wake.

This did not happen with Judas Iscariot. The little love he had in his heart when he realized his sin was completely wiped out when he chose to surrender totally to evil, finding no more hope for forgiveness and reconciliation with Jesus.

*Photo by Mr. Jay Javier, September 2024.*

Never lose hope in Jesus. Seek that love in your heart. Seek Jesus in that tiny voice telling you to always come home to him. Do not be shy nor ashamed of your loss and failure. Keep that fire of love in Jesus burning.

Do not let grief overcome and consume you, wiping out the embers of love left in your heart with the loss of a loved one. Life goes on in Jesus and in that same love we have in our hearts that surprisingly even grows deeper as we move on after the death of a loved one.

In the recent ghost projects scam by government and elected officials, we too felt the pain of loss too in the billions of pesos stolen from us. We are deeply affected because we love the Philippines; let us keep that love for the country burning within us by taking concrete steps against corruption while preventing opportunists from plunging us into chaos.

Blessed are those who weep because more than the love they have in their hearts, they have been loved first of all. We weep and grieve the death of a beloved family member or relative or friend because of the love they have given us, of the kindness they have shown us, and the care they have lavished upon us.

*Photo by Oscar Millu00e1n on Pexels.com*

Simon Peter did not merely have love in his heart; he was so loved by Christ!

Luke dramatically described to us how Peter’s eyes met the merciful and loving eyes of Jesus while he was denying the Lord. It must have struck him so hard that immediately he felt contrition for his sin, feeling strongly the need to reform himself and reconnect with the Lord. He could not let the imperfect love he has in his heart to just go to waste that is why when he wept bitterly on that Holy Thursday evening, it was not the end but the beginning of another chapter in his beautiful story of love for Jesus. It was precisely what he meant when he told Jesus at Tiberias, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you” (Jn.21:17) – that despite his weaknesses and failures, he loves Jesus, he tries so hard to love Jesus in his little ways.

There’s a saying that “If you have love in your heart, you have been blessed by God; if you have been loved, you have been touched by God.” We are blessed in mourning our departed loved ones because through them, we felt being touched by God. That is why we have to move on after every death – so we may love more those left around us for them to feel God’s loving touch too!

Residents of Hagonoy Bulacan walk their way to flooded portions of premise surrondings St. Anne Parish as they protest this was following exposes of flood control anomalies. The Bulacan has been under scrutiny for receiving multi million worth of flood control projects but still suffers severe flooding. (Photo by Michael Varcas)

Blessed are those who mourn because that is when we actually stand for what is true and good, for what is just and right.

When we weep, it does not mean we have lost; in fact, even in the face of apparent loss like Jesus on the Cross, mourning is the most firm expression of our belief in what is right and just, and what is true and good.

According to Pope Benedict, this blessed mourning that leads to salvation is found at the death of Jesus Christ where his Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary stood by the foot of his Cross with the beloved disciple and other women (Ibid.,p. 87). At the Cross, Mary showed us that mourning is blessed because it is the strongest expression of our solidarity with Christ, of our going against evil and sin.

In this world when conformity to whatever “everyone is doing” is the rule of the game like corruption, dishonesty, infidelity, and lies, mourning and weeping with the victims of oppression and persecution and corruption too can be our strongest signs of protest and resistance against the prevailing evils of our time. When we weep and mourn for victims of violence and evil, that is when we become God’s instruments of his comfort to his people, when we strengthen them in their pains and sufferings.

To comfort means “to strengthen” – from the Latin cum fortis, “with strength”. When we mourn and stand by those weeping and suffering, we are blessed because that is when we resolve to live and love more like Christ on the Cross.

*Photo by Dra. Mai B. Dela Peña, Mt. Carmel, Israel, 2015.*

What are your griefs today?

Blessed are you in your weeping not only in having love in your heart but most of all, for being loved. Dwell in the love of God in Jesus Christ like the saints who have gone ahead of us, resisting all evils and temptations to sin for the Lord comforts us his people always. Amen. A blessed All Saints’ Day to you! Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Our Lady of Fatima University, Valenzuela City

*This is based on our previous blog in 2022. Salamuch.

What shall I cry out this Advent?

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Tuesday in the Second Week of Advent, 10 December 2024
Isaiah 40:25-31 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Matthew 11:28-30

*Photo by author, Advent 2019 in my previous parish.*

Thank you, Lord Jesus
for the gift of this Season of Advent,
a time for new beginnings in God,
a chance for me to prepare your way,
O Lord, right here in my heart;
I can hear your voice saying
"Cry out!" but like Isaiah,
I said, "what shall I cry out?"
(Isaiah 40:6)

You speak of comforting your people,
O Lord, but, how shall I comfort your people
when I am afraid of difficulties in life?

How shall I comfort your people,
O Lord, when I refuse to make time
to visit the sick,
listen to the cries of the poor,
and stay with those at the margins?

How can I find your lost sheep,
Jesus when I am also lost,
grappling for which is true and just,
finding no one to guide me too
at how every valley shall be filled with love
or every mountain and hill of pride be made low?

Fill me with your tenderness, 
loving God our Father
in Jesus Christ;
empty me of my pride
and fill me with your 
humility, justice and love
to seek out others who are lost,
to comfort those who are weak,
to guide those disappointed
and disillusioned
in not finding you Jesus
in their home or school,
in their church,
among their family and friends,
and among our fellow disciples.
Amen.

Seeing Jesus

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B, 27 October 2024
Jeremiah 31:7-9 ><}}}}*> Hebrews 5:1-6 ><}}}}*> Mark 10:46-52

*Photo by author, Nagsasa Cove, San Antonio, Zambales, 19 October 2024.*

“Seeing” is a word with so many meanings for us. More than its literal sense of having eyesight, “seeing” is used as a metaphor like referring to understanding when we say “I see your point” or poetically as in to see with one’s heart.

Filipino mothers have a very funny, unique expressing about seeing when telling us children to look for something that if we could not find it, every Nanay fumes with a warning saying, “kapag hindi mo nakita iyan, makikita mo sa akin!”

Whatever that means, it shows “seeing” reveals to us a lot about ourselves and others, of life and most especially of God.

As Jesus was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a sizable crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind man, the son of Timaeus, sat by the roadside begging. On hearing that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, son of David, have pity on me”… he kept calling out all the more, “Son of David, have pity on me.” Jesus stopped and said, “Call him”… Jesus said to him in reply, “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man replied to him, “Master, I want to see.” Jesus told him, “Go your way; your faith has saved you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed him on the way (Mark 10:46-48, 49, 51-52).

See Mark’s gift in storytelling in this second crucial teaching by Jesus on discipleship sandwiched between His third prediction of His Pasch and entrance to Jerusalem.

See the contrast between James and John “wanting” fame and power by seating beside Jesus in glory and Bartimaeus “wanting” to see Jesus: the brothers were rejected after being told “you do not know what you are asking” whereas the beggar’s plea was granted after asking him “what do you want me to do for you?”

Clearly, this is about what we see in Jesus, of how ironic like James and John that we who have eyesight and closer to Jesus do not have the vision of a blind beggar like Bartimaeus asking to see more of Jesus, more of faith, more of life!

The scene has many layers so beautifully assembled together by Mark for us to see beyond our sight in order to have a clearer vision of discipleship and ultimately of God in eternal life.

On hearing that it was Jesus of Nazareth, 
he began to cry out and say, 
"Jesus, son of David, have pity on me." 
And many rebuked him, 
telling him to be silent. 
But the more he kept calling out all the more, 
"Son of David, have pity on me."

*Photo by author, Jericho City, the Holy Land, May 2019.*

Though blind, Bartimaeus “saw” Jesus, calling Him “Son of David” which is the messianic title of the coming Savior so awaited by the Jewish people. It is a title so unique among them, referred with David in the Old Testament being their greatest king and deliverer. Jeremiah tells us in the first reading today of how “the Lord has delivered his people… gathering the blind and the lame” (Jer. 31:7,8) now fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

How amazing that Bartimaeus without eyesight staying at the sides of the road of Jericho being able to “see” Jesus as his Savior, asking most especially the vision to see eternity like that man who approached Jesus two Sundays ago. The big difference is that Bartimaeus was convinced of his faith in Jesus based on what have heard about Him.

Very crucial here are the cries of Bartimaeus to Jesus as “Son of David”. See how the crowds around him tried to silence him but the more he shouted aloud to Jesus. That is more than persistence in prayer but a conviction in the very person of Jesus as Savior, as Messiah, as God, truly a Brother and a Friend.

Bartimaeus reminds us to go back to Caesarea Philippi where Jesus asked the Twelve and us everyday, “who do you that I am?” Our answer to that question is essential because it is on that conviction and faith in Jesus where our prayers and prayer life itself are essentially hinged on. Now, compare what James and John saw in Jesus last Sunday with their request and with what the blind Bartimaeus saw in asking for his sight.

When we truly know Jesus, then we know what we want from Him. Many times in life, when we feel so blinded, when everything seems so dark we could not see where we are, who our friends are, when all we can do is simply cry like Bartimaeus, whispering Jesus, Jesus… that is when we unconsciously see Him right beside us.

*Photo by Dra. Mylene A. Santos, MD, Katmon Nature Sanctuary & Beach Resort, Infanta, Quezon, 2020.*

As Jesus was leaving Jericho 
with his disciples and a sizable crowd, 
Bartimaeus, a blind man, the son of Timaeus, 
sat by the roadside begging...
And many rebuked him, 
telling him to be silent.

See my dear friends how in this scene those traveling with Jesus looked upon Bartimaeus as an interruption on the journey to Jerusalem. It seemed like a distraction but the truth is, Jesus saw Bartimaeus as the very point itself of His journey!

We have seen this year how Jesus visited even the most unlikely places of pagan territories, of where lepers are even Samaritans to heal and speak to them. Jesus is always passing by in our lives but, are we there to meet Him?

Recall those failures and disasters that punctuated our lives, when we saw them as distractions and interruptions that have delayed and even set aside many of our plans, but, look now how those disasters were actually providential that led us to success.

When we review our lives, we see God truly writing straight with crooked lines with those countless times when He turned our failures into triumphs, sadness into joy, losses into gains. It was during those blinding moments in life when we were actually able to see clearly our selves, our family and friends, and most especially, God in Jesus Christ.

This is what the author of the Letter to the Hebrews is telling us in the second reading, of Jesus the Son of God, our eternal high priest exceedingly better and perfect than any high priest “able to deal patiently with the ignorant and erring, for he himself is beset by weakness” (Heb. 5:2). Jesus is the Son of God who transforms not only water into wine or bread into His Body but most especially us like the blind Bartimaeus into whole persons again. The key is to keep our sights on Him, to see Him more clearly so that we can follow Him closely.

Jesus said to him in reply, 
"What do you want me to do for you?" 
The blind man replied to him, 
"Master, I want to see."

Jesus today is asking us too, “What do you want me to do for you?” What would our request be? What do we want? Jesus wants us to focus our sights to Him alone.

Discipleship is never about us but always Jesus, only Jesus who invites this Sunday to take a sincere look into ourselves like Bartimaeus, without alibis and excuses to root out whatever that keeps us from seeing Him truly like self-centeredness and selfishness or preoccupation with wealth and fame, or pleasures and comfort.

To see Jesus truly like Bartimaeus is to be like a child, to die into one’s self by “throwing aside” whatever we have, “springing up to come to Jesus”. That is when we discover too that the more we see Jesus, the more we realize that Jesus gives us more than what we ask Him because He is actually never far from us especially when we cry out to Him!

To see Jesus truly like Bartimaeus is to leave the sides and walk the main roads with Jesus to Jerusalem, up to His crucifixion. In doing so, we must learn to always stop for others struggling in their blindness to see Jesus too.

Most of all, to see Jesus like Bartimaeus is to keep on asking Him, “Master, I want to see” so that we keep on experiencing a new way of seeing Jesus in life’s many complexities these days that have rendered so many of us blinded by the enticing lures of the world. Amen. And, see yah! Have a new way of seeing life and others this week in Jesus!

*Photo by the author, Pundaquit Mountains in San Antonio, Zambales at the back of Nagsasa Cove, 19 October 2024.*

Praying for those in tears

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday, Memorial of St. Elizabeth of Hungary, Religious, 17 November 2022
Revelations 5:1-10 ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*> Luke 19:41-44

Lord Jesus Christ,
today I pray for those who cry,
for those who weep,
especially those who
are shedding tears
in silence.

You yourself wept over
Jerusalem when you saw it
for its hardness of her heart,
in rejecting you, O Lord,
as the Christ, our Savior:
"As Jesus drew near,
he saw the city and wept over it,
saying, 'If this day you only knew
what makes for peace ---
but now it is hidden from
your eyes'" (Luke 19:41-42).

Thank you, dear Jesus,
in making our tears blessed
that cleanse us inside,
washes away our guilt
and other dirt,
pains and sins
and everything not nice 
from the past
to fill us with your joy
and life!

But most of all, Jesus,
thank you for suffering,
dying, and rising for us
that every time we cry and weep,
when there are tears rolling
down our cheeks,
we feel assured of your 
loving presence
in times of grief and sadness,
failures and disappointments,
sickness and death
because in your pasch,
you have triumphed not only
over sin and evil here on earth
but also assured us of entrance 
into heaven as seen by John:

I shed many tears because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to examine it. One of the elders said to me, “Do not weep. The lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has triumphed, enabling him to open the scroll with its seven seals.”
Revelation 5:4-5

Praise and glory to you,
dear Jesus, the lion of the tribe of Judah,
the root of David,
the Lamb who was slain and
found worthy to save us
and lead us back to the Father,
now and forevermore.
Amen.

Imitating Job

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Tuesday, Memorial of St. Vincent de Paul, Priest, 27 September 2022
Job 3:1-3, 11-17, 20-23 ><000'> + ><000'> + ><000'> Luke 9:51-56

*Photo by author, Makati skyline from Antipolo, August 2022.*

Thank you again,
dear God our loving Father
in keeping us safe from the 
powerful super typhoon that
hit us Sunday evening;
most of all, thank you in giving
us that faith within us like Job
when we go through storms in
life, sometimes so violent and
devastating like the real ones.

Bless us, O God, to be like Job:
to have that grace of crying out
our hearts, of venting out our pains
and even anger when like him,
we curse the day but never you:

Job opened his mouth and cursed his day. Job spoke out and said: Perish the day on which I was born, the night when they said, “The child is a boy!” Why did I not perish at birth, come forth from the womb and expire?
Job 3:1-2, 3

Help us realize, dear Father,
these little "deaths" we go through
daily in life like sickness and loss of
loved ones are the realities of life
itself that prepare us for our eternal
union in you that would surely come
on our Death with a big D;
we are indeed "being-towards-death"
beginning on the day of our birth when
we have to cry out loud and kick hard
to be alive!

It is through our pains and sufferings
that we become truly human,
when we feel with others in 
empathy and sympathy,
when we stay with others
in consolation,
when we strive to be like
Jesus in raising up others
by being "resolutely determined
to journey to Jerusalem" (Lk.9:51)
to face death that have inspired saints
like your servant Vincent de Paul
who worked so hard for the sick, 
the abandoned, and the poor,
inspiring other saints in the 
process!

We pray for everyone 
going through darkness,
battered by storms in life
to keep their faith,
that it is okay to cry and
complain because it is really
difficult; most of all, 
remind us, Jesus, that
without pains and 
sufferings in this world,
then this life would be
so dull, even meaningless
because that is when we
are totally by ourselves,
utterly selfish because we can
only find life's meaning in others,
never in our selves.
Amen.

Crying is praying too!

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday, Week XXXIII, Year II in Ordinary Time, 19 November 2020
Revelation 5:1-10 >><)))*> + <*(((><< || >><)))*> + <*(((><< Luke 19:41-44

*“Mater Dolorosa” also known as “Blue Madonna” (1616) by Carlo Dolci. Photo from Wikimedia Commons.*

Thank you, dear Jesus, in joining me in my tears, in my crying. I have been crying a lot lately for so many reasons. And what a wonderful feeling to cry because so often, it has become my prayers too, even my food for the soul.

In the first reading, St. John “shed many tears because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to examine it” (Revelation 5:4); while in the gospel, you wept over Jerusalem as you drew near the city for refusing to recognize and accept you as the Messiah (Luke19:41).

In both instances, tears express the deep love within us for one another, an outpouring of love that have become like beads of prayers.

Photo by author, Dominus Flevit (The Lord Wept) Church where Jesus wept over Jerusalem, 2017. Roof is shaped like tears.

Thank you dear Jesus for enabling me to cry like you for it means that my heart is still beating, my heart is aching because it is loving.

Tears do come from ducts near the eyes but they come from the soul longing for you, Lord, forming in the heart, secreted from those many scars left open whenever we give away a part of ourselves to somebody else out of love.

Tears are always a grace from you as they cleanse us inside, clearing our eyes of the many blurs so we may see your face among the persons next to us.

Bless us as we cry, O Lord, that our tears may eventually pave the way for smiles and joys some other day when like your prayer for Jerusalem, we may recognize your visitation in the many trials and tests we endure for our loved ones. Amen.

The gift of tears

Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 22 September 2020

Photo by Ms. Ria De Vera of our parish church, August 2020.

Lately I have been watching old movies that I wonder why I still cry even if I have seen them more than twice before at the cinema and cable TV. It seems that my being born with “mababa ang luha” (easy to cry) is getting more “mababa” as I get old.

Tears are a gift from God, the most beautiful prayer we can ever express courtesy of the Holy Spirit because when we run out of words for our pains and sadness or when we are overjoyed, he makes us cry to heal and comfort us or complete our joys, assuring us of his loving presence.

That is the reason why we call “home” in Tagalog as “tahanan”: home is where we “stop crying”, that is, “tahan na” because that is where we find all the support we need in times of crisis. Indeed, home is where the heart is.

True to its function, tears cleanse us physically, emotionally and spiritually. I have read two decades ago that researchers at a university in the US have found the chemical composition of our tears differ if we cry because of pain and sadness or due to joy and laughter.

Is it not wonderful and amazing how we take for granted crying and tears without realizing its chemical process within that can transform our very selves?

Tears and crying mark our life's coming to full circle.

When I was five years old, I saw the picture of a newborn baby crying in the Book Section of the Reader’s Digest. I asked my mom why the baby was crying. In her usual motherly way of explaining things, she told me that if the baby cries upon birth, it means he/she is alive; if the baby does not cry, he/she is dead.

“Kapag umiyak, buhay; walang iyak, patay.“

My young mind easily absorbed her words that would remain to be one of the most profound lessons I had ever learned about life at a very young age. As I grew up watching TV and movies, I would always sigh with relief whenever I heard the sounds “uha-uha” because the story would surely be nice and not tragic.

Imagine the great inverse that happens with crying and tears to signal the coming to the outside world of life of another human, of how we have to cry to be alive from then on until we die when it becomes our family and friends’ turn to cry and shed tears for us when we are gone.

But there is something more deeper than this great inverse on crying in life and death I had learned only in 2013 through my best friend Gil, a classmate in our minor seminary.

It was late February of that year on the 40th day of the death of his youngest sister Claire when he was diagnosed with cancer. We could not believe the news because Gil was the most health conscious in our “band of brothers” from high school who never smoked, rarely ate meat, and was active in sports like golf and badminton. Unlike most of us, he was never overweight, looked so healthy in our mid-40’s.

Imagine the hurt within him that every time we would visit him, he would cry not really in pain but more on the why of getting cancer. We tried visiting him as often as we can to cheer him up and lift his spirits specially after his surgery when his chemotherapy sessions began.

By September on that same year, we all had to rush and visit him at Makati Med one Sunday afternoon when informed by his Ate Lily that doctors have given up on him. His cancer cells were “ferocious” and nothing could be done anymore except to wait for the inevitable.

That was when I noticed the greater inverse about crying when Gil had finally accepted his condition and life direction, that was when he was most joyous and peaceful too while we were the ones so sad and worried, crying. How our roles were reversed with Gil now telling us to stop crying – tahan na – which we used to tell him months earlier! (Gil died peacefully the following Sunday, 22 September 2013.)

*“Mater Dolorosa” as “Blue Madonna” (1616) by Carlo Dolci. Photo from Wikimedia Commons.*

I noticed it happening so many times with some friends and parishioners I have come to love in my ministry, those I have pastorally cared for some time after being diagnosed with serious conditions like cancer.

Yes, I have cried despite holding my tears for them while administering the Holy Viaticum and Anointing of Oil. The patients in turn would just glance at me, so dignified and calm like Mary our Lady of Sorrows as if trying to comfort me with their sweet thank you.

As I prayed on those experiences, I realized how life comes to full circle through our crying and tears.

I believe that patients cry when they start undergoing treatment of their sickness due to fears and uncertainty of what would happen next to them; later as they come to terms with their condition, they stop crying because they already knew where they were going, of what was coming next.

We who would be left behind cry and begin to shed tears at thoughts of their dying because admittedly, we are actually the ones more uncertain of where we are going to or how our lives would go through when our loved ones are gone.

That is the greatest pain we feel in the death of a beloved when we grapple with the realities of the many uncertainties of life without them.

And that is why we need to love as much as we can our family and friends while still alive. This quarantine period of the pandemic are grace-filled moments to shower them with our love and presence we have taken for granted for so long as we pursued many things in our lives.

Photo by Dr. Mylene A. Santos, MD at Infanta, Quezon, April 2020.

Tears and crying lead us to heaven.

Death and sickness, like life, become a blessing if we are filled with gratitude not regrets because we have truly loved. When a beloved is gone and we begin to cry, the tears wash away our pains of losing them, cleansing us within to leave us with all the beautiful memories and love we have shared. Then, every remembering becomes truly a re-membering, making a lost loved one a member of the present again.

When we cry, tears polish the love we have shared with everybody until later when our time comes, our visions are also cleared of what is going to happen next, of where we are going. Crying becomes wonderful and truly a grace after all not only in sharing and being one with the grief and pain of another in the present but sooner or later, in having a glimpse of the life after.

In the Gospel of John (11:1-44), we find the story of the raising of Lazarus whom Jesus loved so much that he wept – not just cried – at his death. Jesus raised him up back to life, his final miracle – or “seventh sign” according to John – to show he is the Christ before his own Resurrection at Easter after his “final hour” of Crucifixion on Good Friday.

From then on, Christ sanctified crying and tears to enable us to see beyond pains and hurts, even death especially if you have truly loved.

Sometimes in life, it is always good to let those tears flow, like love even if it is painful, to have a good cry and real cleansing inside. A blessed day to you!

Panalangin sa mga ginigipit

Lawiswis ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Paggunita sa Pagpapakasakit ni San Juan Bautista, Ika-29 ng Agosto 2020

Ama naming mahabagin,
ngayong ginugunita namin 
pagpapakasakit ni San Juan Bautista, 
Inyo sanang dinggin aming panalangin
para sa maraming kapatid namin na ginigipit, iniipit;
ang iba sa kanila ay nakapiit
marami ang lugmok sa pait at sakit na sinapit
mula sa mga makabagong Herodes at Herodias
na prinsipyo at pagkatao, ipinagpalit sa ginto.
Inyong patatagin paninindigan sa katotohanan 
katulad ni San Juan Bautista
upang ipagpatuloy pakikipaglaban 
nasaid man ang kabuhayan
at tanging pinanghahawakan 
dangal ng katauhan.
Ikaw lamang Panginoon
ang nakaaalam ng higit na mainam
kami ay Iyong turuan at tulungan
katulad ni San Juan loob mo ay masundan
kami ma'y maging palatandaan
ng Iyong kapanatilihan sa gitna ng mga 
pag-uusig at kahirapan.
Amen.

*Mga larawan sa itaas: una ang painting ni Caravaggio ng pagpupugot sa ulo ni Juan Bautista mula sa wikimedia.org; biktima ng tokhang mula sa Philippine Daily Inquirer; umiiyak na empleyado ng ABS-CBN mula sa Reuters.org; at mga locally stranded individuals sa ilalim ng flyover malapit sa NAIA kuha ni G. Raffy Tima ng GMA-7 News.

Rebellious people, merciful God

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II

Thursday, Memorial of Sts. Pontian and Hippolytus, Martyrs, 13 August 2020

Ezekiel 12:1-12 >><)))> |+| >><)))> |+| >><)))> Matthew 18:21-19:1*

Photo by author, Mt. St. Paul Spirituality Center, La Trinidad, Benguet, 2018.

Praise and glory to you, our merciful Father always waiting for us to come home to you. Thank you for being patient with us who always rebel against you, turning away from you to be on our own.

Sadly, whenever we rebel, it is not you whom we hurt and inflict pain with but those dearest to us like our family and friends who truly love us. We are like the people of Jerusalem who have become callous and indifferent, cold and distant from you, O God, who truly cared for them.

The word of the Lord came to me: Son of man, you live in the midst of a rebellious house; they have eyes to see but do not see, and ears to hear but do not hear, for they are a rebellious house.
Ezekiel 12:1-12

So many times, loving Father, we have become like that debtor in Christ’s parable whose debts were written off by his master and yet could not do the same to a fellow debtor who owed him with a lesser amount.

Both that debtor in the gospel and the rebellious house of Israel in the first reading share the same sin and evil attitude of refusing to recognize your goodness and mercy you have given them that we are equally guilty of today.

So many times in our lives, Lord, this same attitude of being rebellious and unmerciful are the main reasons that destroy our many relationships because we have separated ourselves from others.

Teach us through Jesus Christ to always live grateful to your abounding love and kindness, mercy and forgiveness to us, Father, so we may always share these same blessings with others.

Touch our hearts like you have moved the first anti-pope, St. Hippolytus who sought forgiveness from the Pope he had earlier rebelled against, St. Pontian after they were both sent to hard labor on the island of Sardinia during the persecution by Maximus Thrax.

What a beautiful twist of fate that you still brought them together, Lord to share in witnessing to your truth and mercy.

We pray today for those who have rebelled against you, O God, uttering all kinds of blasphemies against your most Holy Name not realizing that the more they rebel against you, the more they have become distant from us the people they are supposed to serve.

Open their eyes and their ears so they may see and hear the sufferings of the people in this time of pandemic. Amen.

Photo by Mr. Raffy Tima of GMA-7 News, May 2020.

When we are the weeds among the wheat….

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II

Tuesday, Week XVII, Year II in Ordinary Time, 28 July 2020

***Jeremiah 14:17-22* >>><)))> >><)))> ><)))> Matthew 13:36-43***

God our merciful Father, today we pray for our countrymen blinded by the many evils happening in our land today. For those who continue to defend the cycle of murders and killings to weed us out of criminals and addicts, for those who defend the blasphemies uttered against you and jokes against everyone, for those who continue to deny something is terribly wrong among our leaders.

We pray for them all, Lord. Open their eyes and their ears to the many sufferings around us: the cries of mothers losing a child, the pains of fathers losing their jobs, the frustrations of young people in finding a job, and the alienation of a nation lost in a circus where clowns are running the government.

Like your Prophet Jeremiah whom you have asked to tell your people in Judah and Israel how their sins have caused all their miseries and sufferings, enlighten us more to wake up our nation to the truth we have turned away from you.

Let my eyes stream with tears day and night, without rest, over the great destruction which overwhelms the virgin daughter of my people, over her incurable wound. If I walk into the field, look! Those slain by the sword; if I enter the city, look! Those consumed by hunger. Why have you struck us a blow that cannot be healed? We wait for peace, to no avail; for a time of healing, but terror comes instead. We recognize, O Lord, our wickedness, the guilt of our fathers; that we have sinned against you. Is it not you alone, O Lord, our God, to whom we look?
Jeremiah 14:17-18, 19-20, 22

Show us the way, the path back to you, O Lord.

We have become the weeds among the wheat, trying to ruin everything.

We have become callous and numb with our sins, too, that others cannot believe our calls for conversion and renewal.

Renew us, O Lord, so we may listen more to your words that will guide us to recovery and conversion. Amen.

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II

Thursday, Memorial of Sts. Pontian and Hippolytus, Martyrs, 13 August 2020

Ezekiel 12:1-12 >><)))*> |+| >><)))*> |+| >><)))*> Matthew 18:21-19:1

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II

Tuesday, Week XVII, Year II in Ordinary Time, 28 July 2020

Jeremiah 14:17-22 >>><)))*> >><)))*> ><)))*> Matthew 13:36-43

Ezekiel 12:1-12 >><)))> |+| >><)))> |+| >><)))> Matthew 18:21-19:1*

***Jeremiah 14:17-22* >>><)))> >><)))> ><)))> Matthew 13:36-43***